


Miraculous Tales of Camp Half-Blood

by 0regina1



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood, Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2018-12-11 11:45:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11713752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0regina1/pseuds/0regina1
Summary: I’m Marinette, just a normal girl with a normal life. Actually, I have a secret and there’s no point in me telling you what it is because you wouldn’t even believe me if did. But now you think I’m a liar because I won’t tell you my secret. But I’m not a liar and - fine! I’ll tell you if you promise not to laugh. Okay? Are you ready?I am a demigod.





	1. The Godmother

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> I have no affiliation with Miraculous Ladybug or Percy Jackson and the Olympus or the Heroes of Olympus series. Also any similarities to real life events or people are unintentional unless explicitly stated.

Dear Diary,

I am in so much trouble. I'm in Monsieur Damocles' office waiting for my parents after blowing up some bronze statues in the nearby park fountain. Mama and Papa are going to be so angry with me.

I don't have enough money saved up to pay for it – That means that they'll have to pay for it! And statues are expensive so that means they'll have to take a loan they can't afford and then when they can't pay it back we'll have to sell the boulangerie! I'll have to give up my dreams for attending design school, then interning for the Gabriel fashion house, then starting up my own fashion line, and having a cat, no wait, a dog, actually, a hamster! But there is no way I can let my parents sell the boulangerie!

And today started out like any ordinary day too. I running trying to beat the school bell but as I crossed the street I noticed something odd out of the corner of my eye. I was so startled, I tripped. It was the statue from the park.

I approached the closest citizen and pointing to the statue I asked, "Did you see that?"

"It's just a model," he said.

As you know we're right in the middle of the Paris Fashion Week so there were a lot of shows and events happening in the city.

"To be honest, I think that the steampunk look is a little faux pas," he added before walking off.

Frustrated, I tried another person, but when I pointed to the statue I noticed that it was staring at me. What's more, it was coming towards me. I looked around and saw more statues heading in my direction. So I ran.

I ran towards the park. There was a fashion show that looked as if it was about to start, so I thought that they'd have a lot of security there. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to scope out the designs was because I had to jump to dodge an attack. Somehow, instead of falling flat on my face, I used my hands to flip out of the way. There wasn't any time to marvel at that, because the statues were still coming.

At that point, most of the fashion show guests were running away, but some photographers were taking flash photography of the statues. For some strange reason the statues seemed to stop attacking the people and pose for the camera. But then, they became enraged when the security guards tried to stop them.

Next thing I knew I had taken my out phone to take their photographs, yelling at them and trying to draw them outside away from the crowd so that no one else gets hurt. It seemed to work, but I was running out of battery fast. There was less than 5 percent left. I knew I should've charged it last night. Soon it started to beep saying it was at 4, then 3 percent and then-

Sorry! My parents have arrived. I'll continue my story later.

* * *

Adrien Agreste knew that there were a lot of things that could go wrong during a fashion week show. Sometimes models arrived late, even still styled from a previous show. Stylists often will change the accessories just before a model walks the stage, and some VIP decides to arrive unannounced and have to be accommodated. After all the years of accompanying his mother to her shows he's witnessed a lot of unexpected events, but the runway being hijacked by another fashion show was not one of them.

From a gap in the curtains he could see the chaos unfold before the Gabriel show started as people were knocked from their seats, and the security guards flooded the scene. Nathalie Sancoeur, Gabriel's new personal assistant, was furiously issuing commands listening to the radio. Meanwhile, backstage staff and models were ignoring the instructions and peeking through the gap.

All the models were doing at first was posing on the runway but things turned ugly when the guards tried to get them to leave. When approached, one of the models threw a security guard into the crowd. Guests then scrambled away screaming. Some of the models hopped off the runway and started charging at the people. Backstage, the staff and cast were panicking. One rogue model was heading their way.

"Mama," yelled Adrien. He scanned for his mother amongst the chaos.

"Adrien!" she cried waving. He wove through the throngs of people to her. "Do you have your ring?"

"Yes," he said. It was his only thing he had of his father and he hardly ever took it off or was far from it. He gathered the train of his mother's outfit in his arms. "Let's go!"

"Do you remember-"

"The Address? Yes." Ever since they were little it was only the two of them. They had a place in the 5th arrondissement for when his mother was in between modelling assignments or had work in Paris. But the Address referred to a close friend of his father's that recently contacted them and had told them that if they ever needed help, they just had to go to his house in the 21st arrondissement.

Unfortunately, while they were escaping they were separated. Adrien tried to go back to his mother but he was swept away by the moving mass.

* * *

Dear Diary,

I have no idea what is happening anymore. I just had the most bizarre conversation with my parents, Monsieur Damocles and Mademoiselle Bustier.

When they arrived I told the story of what happened in the park after I lured the statues away from the crowd, including how the Chinese tourist in a red Hawaiian shirt who yelled out that the "automatons", as he called them, required a "password" to deactivate and were made out of celestial bronze and vulnerable to electric discharge, and how I saw the saw the fountain, an abandoned camera, the fashion lights, the power supply and the statues, and then taking up the camera, directed the statues to the fountain, and I then declared that we needed more light, so I grabbed a light by the stand and ran to them, hoping that I didn't run out of cable, and threw it lights into the fountain causing the water and all the statues to sizzle, spark and terminate.

That was when Mademoiselle Bustier found me and sent me to the principal's office to wait for my parents.

It's a blessing and a curse to live so close to the school.

I told them I was sorry, but instead of being angry or even saying that they were disappointed in me, they said that there was something they needed to tell me.

"You're a demigod, Marinette," said Papa.

I didn't expect him to say that.

"What?" I said.

"Do you remember when we went to the Louvre and saw the statues of the Greek gods and goddesses?"

"Yeah…?"

"Good," he said, pleased with himself. "Well, they're real."

"Wait," I said, panicking a little, "Did all the statues in the Lourve come to life and attack people?!"

"Uhh…" said Papa.

"Not to worry," said Madame Bustier, "that situation has been taken care off. Luckily the mortals will simply believe it was a flash mob or Youtube prank thanks to the Mist."

Mama changed the topic (but what did happen to all those statues in the Lourve…?).

"Let me try, honey," she said. She then turned to me. "Marinette, do you remember the story of when you were born?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Remember how we said that we had trouble conceiving you and that-"

"I'm a miracle child." I've heard that story numerous times, but it still embarrassing to listen to. Not to mention that my teacher and principal were there listening to it too. Did I mention that it was so embarrassing.

"Now, you know that we tried a lot of things and even the doctors told us that there wasn't anything we could do. But, - and I know that this will be difficult to believe - the Greek goddess of fortune, success, prosperity and luck, Tyche, heard our prayers, and helped us. She agreed to be your surrogate mother. The procedure was still risky but it was a success.

"However, there was a condition. At the time of your birth she told us, "This child is my child as much as she is yours. I will come for her when the time arrives," and it looks like the time is fast approaching."

And at that exact moment, just to make things even weirder, there was a knock on the window. We were up on the 2nd floor! Monsieur Damocles opened it and helped the woman inside.

"Welcome, Tyche."

So apparently this woman was the Greek Goddess of luck and my surrogate, making me a demigod in the sense I am not a pure human even though, genetically, Mama and Papa are my parents.

Then - and I thought that I was seeing things - when Monsieur Damocles went to the window I noticed that his legs were hairy and cloven like a goat's.

Mademoiselle Bustier apparently is a water nymph for the Seine which I guess explains why she's always wearing green or blue clothing.

Anyways, back to my "godmother". Tyche seems to have a very happy-go-lucky attitude. She said that she could've taken the stairs, but then decided that it would be more fun to parkour it to the window. And she mentioned to me that she got her clothes from a thrift shop, and I must admit that what she was wearing was a really great find. I think I recognized the jacket from the Coco Chanel 2004 collection.

Ah, sorry I got distracted again.

So, having Tyche as my godmother means that I have might have some demigod traits like ADHD or dyslexia (I'm pretty sure I don't have dyslexia) and some of her powers including luck. Unfortunately even having the powers of luck is down to chance. If it was working all the time then I Chloe wouldn't also be a demigod.

It turns out that were even more surprises that day. Two more of my classmates, Chloe Bourgeois and Nino Lahiffe were also claimed by their Greek godparents. In their cases, I think that they're actually the offspring of a Greek immortal.

Chloe is a piece of work, and a child of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty - in my opinion, only the external kind at best. I've known her since I started school and we were always in the same class. She makes my life so awful. On the way to the airport, the only good thing I could think of about having to leave Paris for New York was that it would help me get away from Chloe, but when we arrived she was there at the boarding gate heading to Camp Half-Blood in America where we were to be trained.

What kind of training? They didn't really answer that. But they mentioned that it was for our own safety.

Nino was there too. He is apparently the son of Apollo, Greek god of music, healing, archery and poetry. I can totally see that. He loves and is really good at DJ'ing so I can totally see why where the talent comes from. I glad that he's here too. It's nice to see friendly familial faces.

So, the three of us are now on a plane to America. According to our school records we're going there for an exchange. It happened so quickly. I only managed to pack some of my clothes before we were driven to the airport. It only hit me only after we took off that I don't know when I'll see my parents again.

With any luck, that will be soon.

* * *

Adrien wandered the streets of Paris lost, tired and hungry. He had lost his phone and wallet, probably in the mob. His only hope was that he would find his way to The Address and that his mother was there.

There weren't that many people on the streets in the area he was in now that the sun had set. He was also feeling hungry since the last thing he ate was some snacks that he pilfered from the food table at the show.

Someone put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and it was The Gorilla, Gabriel's bodyguard.

"Good evening monsieur," said Adrien. "What a coincidence it is to see you here. I'm heading to my mother now… or I guess you'll take me to her..?"

The Gorilla didn't say anything or release his grip on Adrien's shoulder. He had no choice but to be lead to the awaiting black car.

"To the 21st arrondissement, please" said Adrien, but The Gorilla just grunted.

Instead, The Gorilla drove Adrien to Gabriel's mansion in the middle of Paris.

"Is my mother here?"

The Gorilla replied with a grunt.

Adrien had only been at Gabriel's mansion a couple times before with his mother, usually for work related events. Every time he saw the place, he thought that it was ridiculous to have such a large mansion for one man and his staff. It looked so empty.

Gabriel was standing on steps of the grand staircase when Adrien walked in.

"Adrien," said Gabriel, descending the steps to shake Adrien's hand. "I'm glad that my driver found you safe and sound."

"Thank you very much, monsieur, for your concern." Adrien broke the intense eye contact. "Is my mother here as well?"

"No, it was too chaotic, no one could find her. I'm sure that she's worried about you." He gestured to his assistant at the foot of the steps. "Why don't you follow Nathalie to the dining room and have some food?"

"Ah, well, thank you but I should contact my mother. May I borrow your telephone? My phone ran out of battery."

"Do not worry about that." Gabriel walked down and put his arm around his shoulder. "I'm sure that your mother will come here soon enough looking for you. And it's late, I'm sure that she would rather that you are well fed and rested. I'm sure that you are tired and very hungry."

"Yes I guess so…" he conceded. He was tired, and very hungry.

"And of course you should stay here for the night. You are welcome here. After all these years, are we not like family?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This idea for a Miraculous Ladybug and Percy Jackson crossover world refused to let me stop thinking about it until I wrote it out. I should be able to keep up a chapter per week.
> 
> When I was writing this crossover series, I couldn't help but think at how similar both series are. They're both extremely fast paced, detailed, and very random at times.
> 
> This story starts in between the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the Heroes of Olympus series. Expect spoilers for both.
> 
> I was kind of worried about how Marinette would be born, because Tom and Sabine are the perfect couple and I didn't want to break that, but then I found that the definition of a demigod is quite loose. Besides, there have been weirder births in actual Greek mythology; pretty much all of them really...
> 
> If you have time, please leave some feedback comments. It would help me a lot to improve. Thank you!


	2. Camp Half Blood

Dear Diary,

I'm still staying with the Hermes cabin while Tyche's cabin and all the other cabins are being built. It's a little bit squishy with all the new demigods arriving. It makes me miss my room above the boulangerie where I wake up to the smell the freshly baked pastries, and my garden oasis with the view of the beautiful Notre Dame. I miss Mama and Papa too.

But enough of the complaining! Camp Half-Blood is not that bad. It's a very exciting place with dragons, flying horses, sword fighting and their arts and crafts centre is state of the art. You should see their celestial bronze sewing machines they have with all the different stitches and functions. It's so easy to sew in invisible zippers using them! It's so quick!

There are a lot of really nice people here too.

Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, teaches History when she isn't busy supervising the building of the new cabins, or redesigning Mount Olympus which apparently is at the top of the Empire State Building in New York. I've seen the blueprints of some of the buildings and I got so excited because some of the designs reminded me of Parisian architecture, and then she told me that she and her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, went to Paris once and she was so inspired by the buildings there that she decided to incorporate some of the designs. We spent that afternoon just talking about all the different buildings there and she told me that she'll take me to see Olympus one day to see all new buildings there.

I thought that she was one of the more intimidating people at camp, but she's just really passionate about her work. I really respect that, and it was nice talking to someone who's creative.

Annabeth also introduced me to the Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who's a really fantastic painter. I love her painting of the New York City skyline in her cave. It gave me ideas for some new designs that I can't wait to make.

I feel quite lucky that they are nice. English isn't my strongest point, but they don't seem to mind when I make mistakes with the language, or stop the conversation to try and correct me. I think they're used to having people for whom English is a second language. I've heard Ancient Greek, Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, German, Filipino, Horse, and I've seen conversations where they speakers keep switching between different languages but they were still able to communicate. It's pretty incredible.

Some of the kids from the Aphrodite cabin know how to speak French, because it's the language of love, but they tend to keep to themselves because of their head counsellor, Drew Tanaka.

Speaking of Drew, I can't believe that there is someone I hate more than Chloe. Chloe is bad and Chloe plus Drew is worse, but I dislike Drew much more than I dislike Chloe. Why? Because she's the head counsellor for the Aphrodite Cabin but she treats her siblings horribly. For someone who is the daughter of the goddess of love, she doesn't show much of it. She's always making them do her chores and insults them and they look genuinely afraid of her.

I asked the kids why they listen to her, and they said that they can't help it and that I wouldn't understand.

I want to do something though.

Clarisse La Rue from the Ares cabin looks like she might be French descent but she also looks as if she will kill me, so I haven't approached her yet.

Everyday there seems to be something or someone trying to kill you. Today it was another automaton from the Hephaestus' cabin exploding, but it's not as terrifying as I thought it was when I first arrived. I think I'm getting used to the idea of the Greek gods and goddesses being real and being a demigod.

* * *

At breakfast, Adrien was still pondering over the dream in silence when Nathalie Sancour handed him his schedule. He had his studies scheduled for the morning, lunch and then a fitting in the afternoon at the design studio.

"Hey Nathalie," Adrien said before she was about to leave. "Do you ever have weird dreams at night?"

"Dreams?"

"Yeah, I had one about bronze statues and women with a hairy, as in furry, leg… but I can't remember if that's from a comic book or something else." He couldn't remember the dream that properly. His head felt a little bit misty.

"No," she replied slowly, "I can't say I do. You should talk to father when you're at the design studio. I'll message your father to schedule a meeting with you."

"I wouldn't want to disturb father, especially about a dream."

"He would want to talk to you about this," insisted Nathalie.

Adrien felt happy to hear that his father would want to talk to him even though he is so busy, but a part of him wished that he could talk to his mother about it. She would know what to say, he hoped. He hadn't seen his mother in a long time.

At the scheduled time, Adrien knocked on his father's office door.

"Come in."

He entered the room and sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk where his father was busy looking at some fabric swatches.

"Hello, father."

Adrien's father looked up, and pushed up his glasses. "I heard that you were having weird dreams," he said, businesslike.

"I don't want to trouble you with this."

"Nonsense," he said, businesslike. "Dreams are important. Now what did you dream of and was it the first time you dreamt of it?"

"Actually, it's been happening quite frequently, now that I think about it. In the dreams there usually are these bronze statues that move only when you weren't looking at them, and these women with mismatching legs. And I think I remember something about riding flying horse above some sort of forest."

Once he finished talking, Adrien waited in silence while his father sat, pressing his fingers together, lost in thought.

After a few moments, his father took of his glasses and said, "Look at me."

Adrien followed his instruction.

"I think you are just tired. Don't think about your dreams anymore. I'll have Nathalie take you're your basketball activities. You can use the time for more piano practise instead. You are dismissed."

"Thank you father," said Adrien. He left the room wondering what he was even worried about in the first place.

* * *

Dear Diary,

There was some drama today, and guess who caused it. That's right, it was Chloe. Of course it was her.

It started out like any other day. I had arts and crafts in the morning, had sandwiches for lunch, and then a sword fighting class run by Percy. I was paired up with Nino, who I haven't seen in a while because he usually takes the archery sessions and is busy preparing for the nightly campfire sing-a-long with his siblings from the Apollo cabin, but anyways, while we were practising drills Chloe was flirting with Percy.

She'd been flirting with him all week, but during today's lesson it was really intensified. She was flipping her ponytail, pouting, and saying things like, "Oh, Percy you're so funny, strong and handsome."

I'll admit, he's quite attractive with his athletic build and green eyes but even a blind person can see that he is head over heels in love with Annabeth.

I'm actually not even sure that he actually noticed Chloe's antics. He just laughed, but he's always laughing and goofing off. He can be kind of dense.

Annabeth, on the other hand, is extremely astute. She was supposed to be at the cabin build site today, but midway through practise, after a bout of Chloe's shenanigans, she marched through the practise pit, not even concerned with all the sword fights going on around her.

Well, she was wearing a hard hat, celestial bronze cap boots and a fluro vest, so I guess she was well protected.

I knew that she could be scary after being in her History classes and seeing her boss people around at the construction sites, but mon dieu, this was terryifying.

She snatched the practice sword out of my hand, and told Percy that she'd take over his lesson.

"But-!"

She hit him with the flat of her blade and he didn't dare speak again that lesson. He's really quite lucky that she loves him.

Then she picked out Chloe to demonstrate some blocks and strikes.

The blows Annabeth inflicted looked like they hurt. It was nothing that the Apollo cabin can't fix though. I've seen then reattach an arm, although, I'm not sure what they can do about Chloe's bruised ego.

From what I heard in Hermes Cabin, the Aphrodite Cabin has this challenge where they have to win and then break someone's heart to prove their worth.

I think the challenge is horrible and that Chloe made a mistake in targeting Percy.

There aren't any other Tyche kids yet, but when we do have a cabin, I'll make sure that we won't have to prove our worth that way.

* * *

Adrien was trying to concentrate on doing his physics homework when he heard a tap on the window. He didn't expect to see a girl wearing classes hanging on a rope there, waving at him.

After a few moments he realized that she was telling him to let him in and he hastily opened the window for her.

"Thanks, Adrien," she said once inside. She then tugged on the rope and it dislodged from the roof. She put the rope and the giant hook it was attached to into her bag. "Brrr! It's starting to get cooler now, isn't it? Is there somewhere I can hang my coat and put my things?"

"I'll take your coat. You can put your bag anywhere you'd like," he said, still confused. He put the coat she handed him onto a hanger and hung it in his closet. When he turned around the strange girl was on the second floor looking at his library.

"Wow! You have all of the Majestia comic books! And all first edition! I knew that you were rich but not this rich!" She took a copy from the shelf. "Hey, can I borrow this issue? I can't find it anywhere. Woah! You even have your own rock climbing wall, and is that the arcade version of the latest Ultimate Mecha Strike?"

She slid down the pole and immediately went to the console. The electronic beeps and tunes filled the room.

"Umm… Wh-"

"Oh that's right, that's not why I was here." She turned off the machine and ran to her bag. "Let me show you the photos I dev-"

He interrupted her. "Excuse me! H-how did you get in here?"

She gave her explanation extremely quickly. "It wasn't that hard. There were plenty of foot and hand holds all over the place. The only tricky thing was dodging all of the security cameras. I nearly fell off the sill over there because of them. You should try it though. Now let me see if-"

Her explanations brought up even more questions, but she didn't answer the one he wanted to know the most. "I apologise, who are you?"

She stopped talking, pushed up her glasses and looked at him. "I'm Alya Cesaire. Don't you remember?"

He shook his head slowly. "Sorry."

"But we definitely met. Look, I even have photographs from last week." She handed him a stack of photographs.

He took the photographs from her and looked at the top one. It was from the location shoot by the Seine that he did for the upcoming ready to wear line. He remembered those clothes. The focus of the photos was the female models, but he was there in the background. There was something strange about the image, but he couldn't figure out what.

His head began to hurt.

"What-?"

"Yeah," she said, pointing at the image, "and take a look at their legs. See, look how they're mismatched."

It took him a moment, but he was able to make out that the models had one normal leg and one hairy, non-human leg.

"I did some research and I think they're empoussa."

"Empoussa?"

"Monsters from Greek mythology," she explained. "I've seen them a couple times and thought that they were weird so I followed them to your shoot where they attacked. See?"

He looked at the photograph that she held up to his face and was shocked to see ones of him running away being attacked by the female models. He didn't remember that.

She took the stack of photos from him, and flipped through them. "I couldn't see it at first, but now that I've seen it I can't un-see it. It's as if there's something playing with the light or our brains- Maybe it's affecting your memory too which is why you can't remember me!"

Adrien nodded slowly but he didn't really believe her. "My father is pranking me, right? Wait, he couldn't be. He has no sense of humour."

"I'm telling you the truth!" She put a hand to her heart. "Journalist code of honour! Wait- I know! Put your hand out as a fist in the sunlight and-"

"Like this?" he said, humouring her.

"Woah!" She jumped back, narrowly dodging the pointed end of the spear in Adrien's hand. "Wait until I'm out of the danger zone, please."

"This is cool," he said, admiring the weapon. "It looks like it's made of some kind of metal."

"Do you believe me now?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, but I don't know what you're doing here."

"I'm here to show you the photos – oh, I forgot! I saw some monster's near the Eiffel Tower! Let's go!" She picked up her pack, and went to the balcony window, swinging the hook around by the rope.

He wanted to go, but he hesitated.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm stuck here!" Every minute of his day was scheduled and he was chaperoned everywhere. There was no way he could sneak out.

"Breaking out is the easy part, trust me," she said, waving his concerns away. "Are you coming? There are people that need saving."

A slow smile spread across Adrien's face. It sounded like a one of those Majestia adventures but better. This was real. He climbed to the window sill. "Let's go and save Paris!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I found it quite difficult to find the balance for Marinette's voice. She sounds a little too petty and sarcastic in the early versions, but she's supposed to be an optimistic. One thing I really like about writing Marinette's point of view though, is that I can be more flexible with the grammar, because who adheres to grammar 100% of the time when they're writing in their private diaries?
> 
> Alya's visit was originally was supposed to be a video sent over the internet, but then I remembered that the demigods and technology, including the internet, don't mix. Well Percy Jackson and the Lightning thief was released in June, 2005 so let's say that his adventures were in summer 2004 when he's 12 in 2004, so he's 17 in 2009 during the Heroes of Olympus adventures. It could just be me, but don't remember using your phone for the internet and social media in 2009 because data was so expensive and free wi-fi wasn't that widespread, so I figured I could get away with Alya being more into analogue cameras and film. I'm happy with the end result though.
> 
> Eh… I think I'm thinking too much. Oops.


	3. Hephaestus' Dragon

Dear Diary,

It's becoming colder now. A lot of the leaves have fallen from the branches leaving them bare. It will still be sometime before the snow comes, but it still feels like Christmas is coming.

My first Christmas away from family…

Anyhow! I think there's a greater chance of burning to death than freezing to death in Camp Half-Blood because of the celestial bronze dragon. Once again it has shown up, demolished a cabin (Nemisis', this time), set people on fire, snapped at a few satyrs and escaped.

The normal response to this would be to either to help the other campers or leave it to the Hephaestus' cabin to sort out, but Alya Cesaire, daughter of Hermes, the god of communication, and future journalist, has decided that she wants to investigate it.

According to her investigation, the Hephaestus cabin built the automaton dragon years ago with the blessing of their father to protect the camp. It was so fierce and powerful that it kept the camp safe for over a decade and then disappeared into the woods where it was found by Annabeth, Percy, Berkendorf and Silena Beuregarde.

"Yeah, I remember that day," recounted Percy, "I thought we were going to end up as Kibbles 'n' Dragon Bits."

Beckendorf and Silena were the head counsellors of the Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins respectively at the time but they died in the second Titan War, and after he died the dragon went haywire. All the Hephaestus cabin's automatons did.

I think I've mentioned that I don't particularly have good experiences with automatons, but I'll admit that it's beautiful. I couldn't help but admire the intricate bronze and golden scales even though it tried to chop off our heads.

You know, I'm all for taking matters into your own hand, but I honestly think it would've been best if we had stayed out of the Hephaestus cabin's way and let them to sort it out. I told Alya that, but she decided to go into the woods to find it anyways. No one is allowed to go into the woods because of the dragon, even for a capture the flag game. That's how dangerous it is.

Of course I didn't want my new friend from Paris to die or end up in a full body cast like Jake Mason so I followed her.

We were walking in the forest when a whole bunch of myrmekes came running our direction. I've heard rumours about these giant ants before, but they were even more terrifying than I imagined! I never thought that I would be afraid of bugs before that moment!

We ran but soon the myrmekes caught up to us.

"Funny," commented Alya, even though the situation wasn't funny, "they're not attacking us."

Instead, they were ignoring us. We slowed down to a stop and stood there catching our breaths. The giant ants continued scuttling away. Then, we heard a loud crunching sound behind us and felt a warm gust of air on the backs of our necks. We turned around, slowly, and came face to face with Hephaestus' dragon. It was happily crunching on a giant ant.

We, well I, screamed. I also dragged Alya away. She protested, wanting to take a photograph, but luckily I didn't listen, because otherwise she would've been burnt to a crisp.

We barely made it out alive. Chiron scolded us in front of all the other campers. I bet we looked like a sorry sight with soot on our faces and scratches on our arms. Chloe was clearly enjoying herself at our expense. I'm just glad that Mr D is off at Olympus, otherwise he would've given us even worse punishment.

* * *

"There was an incident today, this time at my fencing lesson," recounted Adrien in his daily video blog. He started making the videos about a month ago to help him remember what happened each day. He initially tried to keep a written diary but dyslexia made that difficult. Making videos was much easier. "The Gorilla jumped in and quickly whisked me away, but I'm sure it was caused by a monster. I don't know what kind though. Maybe Alya would know, but I haven't been able to contact her for weeks.

"You know what though? If it wasn't for these videos, I would've thought that I made her up along with all those monsters," Adrien confessed. "Something is wrong with my memory. Things that I thought were real never happened, and things that happened I don't remember. To be honest, I'm not sure of anything anymore. The only thing I'm certain about is that Gabriel is not my father and I can't help but think that if he's lied about that, then what else is he lying about? Could my mother be alive and if she is, where is she?"

Feeling helpless and frustrated with the whole situation, he decided to take a shower. He soon finished recording and took out the memory card from the digital camera which he put into his wallet.

After taking a shower, Adrien tried to do his history readings but he couldn't stop trying to work out which of his memories were real or not.

There was knock on his door and Gabriel walked in. Adrien hope that he wasn't there to say that he found out about the videos.

Gabriel stood before Adrien for a few tense moments and then, surprisingly, gave Adrien a hug. Adrien's anger dissipated leaving him with a warm fuzzy feeling.

"I heard about the attack at your fencing lesson," Gabriel said.

"I'm all right, father. I'm sure that you were busy," said Adrien, hugging him back.

"I-," he suddenly stood back and held Adrien's hand. "I've never noticed your ring before."

Adrien looked at it too. "I've had it for a long time. My mother gave it to me. It was apparently my-" Adrien pulled his hand away. When he mentioned his mother, his head began to clear. "Surely my father would've noticed something like that."

"I've been busy-"

"Then stop pretending you're concerned about me." Feeling slightly guilty with the comment, but meaning it nonetheless, Adrien turned away from Gabriel and crossed his arms. His head began to hurt from all the memories that came rushing back.

"Watch your tone, son."

Gabriel was not his father.

Adrien interrupted him when he tried to speak again, "What happened to my mother?"

"This topic again?" Gabriel scoffed. "I told you before; she passed away in a car accident. That is the final word on the matter."

Gabriel was lying. Adrien had recalled reaching out to his mother in a moving crowd.

"But how?" he challenged, facing Gabriel. "Where? Why don't I remember?"

He looked almost sympathetic. "You don't need to remember such painful memories."

Adrien struggled to remember. Gabriel must've been doing something to him. He batted away Gabriel's right hand. He might've even been the reason why his mother was not here.

"I have a right to know. She's my mother!"

"Such disrespect!"

Adrien yelled back. "You act as if you're above us all -"

Gabriel began to cough violently.

"But you're not!"

He didn't stop coughing. Then, Adrien noticed the many tiny blisters were appearing on Gabriel's right hand.

"What- what- are you do-do-doing to me?" asked Gabriel in between coughs.

Adrian stepped back, his head starting fill up with information. It hurt. "N-nothing."

Gabriel faltered to his knees, struggling for breath, his arm now completely covered in the blisters. Adrien ran out of the room and directly into Gabriel's secretary.

"Uhh…" said Adrien.

She looked into the room and saw Gabriel staggering towards them. She looked at Adrien with a terrifying expression.

"Hanno!" she yelled.

Adrien tried to escape but out of nowhere, The Gorilla grabbed his arms.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Annabeth and Butch have returned from the Grand Canyon, but not with Percy. Instead they brought back three new demigods and a satyr called Coach Hedge.

Alya says that their names are Leo Valdez, Piper McLean and Jason. She's still working on getting the last one's last name, but already we know that they're the children of Hephaestus, Aphrodite and Zeus, respectively.

Leo's very hyperactive, even by Camp Half-Blood standards. He has a mischievous look in his eyes, and combined with his pointy ears, he looks a bit like an elf. Overall he doesn't look much like a child of Hephaestus. They generally are quite stocky, even little Harley. But he was claimed soon after they crash landed into the lake on the flying chariot – the Apollo kids are so mad at Annabeth and Butch for that.

The broken chariot also puts the three new demigods in a rock and a hard place if they need to "beware the earth", as the Oracle's new prophecy stated, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Earlier, at the campfire Jason zapped the campfire with a bolt directed from his golden javelin. When I could see clearly again, the campfire had disappeared and everyone was covered in soot and ashes. Chloe was complaining about the soot in her hair.

Alya has an odd theory about Jason. She thinks that he's a Roman demigod, instead of Greek demigods like us, which I guess makes sense. If there are Greek gods and goddesses, why aren't there Roman ones? And if there are Roman ones, then what about all the other gods around the world?

She pointed out the bars and the letters "SPQR" tattooed on his arm, and the fact that his weapon was golden and not celestial bronze like the ones we use. He also started reciting Latin version of the Great Prophecy so maybe he is.

The third demigod that arrived today, Piper, was claimed by Aphrodite at the campfire. Alya thinks that she's the daughter of Tristian McLean. It kind of fits; the last name, how her father is Cherokee and worked on a project all point in the right direction. It also points to her being, yet again, another Aphrodite drama queen. She even got a glamour makeover from her lovely mother.

Sometimes I wonder about Alya's methods of getting information… They only arrived here today.

Anyways, the three of them are to go on a quest to go save Hera once they figure out the whole "beware the earth" part.

I might go ask the Oracle for a quest tomorrow morning to go help find Percy. It's been three days since he disappeared. I asked permission to go find him before but Chiron's said no. He said that he doesn't want send anyone who hadn't gone on a quest yet. Apparently it's too dangerous to send someone inexperienced. And yet those three who just arrived are going on one, so maybe I just need a quest and I can go.

Meanwhile, without the capture the flag game for an outlet, the Ares cabin has been causing fights more so than usual. Things are getting crazy here. I'm too tired to even try and explain the arrow, the lyre and the honey pot incident. I'll write about it tomorrow.

* * *

As he struggled to escape, Adrien had the distant thought that the Gorilla's name was actually "Hanno."

"I'm sorry! Please don't take me to the police I need to-!" Adrien stopped, shocked. The arms that held him were covered in fur.

He watched anxiously as she walked into the room, but she didn't help Gabriel up. Instead, she ignored his calls for help, walked past him, grabbed Adrien's wallet on his desk and went into his closet. She came back a moment later with a full sports bag, her hand still on her head.

"Hurry," she said, handing The Gorilla the bag. "We need to leave."

He grunted and carried the bag using arm that wasn't used to carry Adrien.

"Come back here!" shouted Gabriel, still coughing and spluttering.

They descended the stairs and as they walked past by Gabriel's office Nathalie went in.

"I need to grab some files, get the car ready," she instructed.

Adrien looked back through the open door way and saw her swing the gilded painting of his mother open to reveal a safe. Adrien was shoved along with the bag into the back seat of the car parked in the driveway. Adrien looked back to the house. He saw Nathalie was standing in front of the house, hands outstretched. Vines grew rapidly and covered the house.

"What's going on?" Adrien said to himself.

Nathalie then got into the front passenger seat, massaging her temples. The doors of the car locked.

"To the airport, quickly," she instructed The Gorilla. "Gabriel might've made it to the ambrosia cupboard. Seatbelt on, Adrien."

"What's going on?" Adrien's head hurt, and his vision became blurry. Nathalie and The Gorilla looked odd. "What are you?"

"I'm a nymph," explained Nathalie, "and Hanno is a Gorilla-"

"The animal?"

"The ancient race living on an island west of Africa before 6th century BC," she corrected him.

The Gorilla grunted.

"Sorry, 8th Century BC. We're taking you somewhere safe for your safety and training."

"What?"

Grunt.

"Apologies, Hanno is right. You might not understand. Adrien, do you know who your father is?"

"I can't remember," he admitted. "But it's definitely not Gabriel. Why? Do you know who it is?"

For the first time he remembered, she sounded uncertain. "I'm not sure if I do, my head is still foggy from Gabriel's Mist."

"Mist?"

"Mist, with a capital "M", is this substance that causes your brain to process unbelievable information."

"Like monsters?" Adrien vaguely remembered the models with the mismatching legs.

"Yes. There are some mortals and immortals that can manipulate Mist. Gabriel used it to control us. Whatever you did to him set us free. The side effects though should wear off in a day or so."

He suddenly remembered the look of pain on Gabriel's face. How could anyone survive from that?

Adrien decided to focus on something else. "Immortals?" he asked.

"Greek gods and goddesses."

"What about them?" said Adrien.

"They're real," she said as a matter of fact. "Sometimes they have children with human parents, and have demigod offspring, like you."

"Me? How do you know that I'm a demigod?"

"Your mother. We met her before we were employed by Gabriel. She could see through the Mist, for what we were. She was protective at first, but later she entrusted you in our care should anything happen to her."

"Do you know what happened to her?"

Nathalie shook her head. "Unfortunately, no."

"Then why are we going to the airport? She told me to go somewhere in the 21st arrondissement. Maybe she's there."

"We gave her that address. If she was there all those months ago, don't you think she would've come to get you once she found out where you were?"

Adrien felt grim. Where was his mother?

"We won't be able to find her if we don't know the first place to look. Besides right now we need to get you to a safe location."

"And where is this safe place?" He couldn't believe that there was a place in the world that was safe from all the monsters.

"Camp Half blood."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi reader!
> 
> Haha. Late into editing the chapter I couldn't help but realise that the confrontation between Adrien and Gabriel felt very much like Zuko and Ozai from Avatar: the Last Airbender. Well...
> 
> Anyways, do you think that the story makes sense and flows well? I keep jumping between the POVs and they're written very differently (and separately. After I plotted the story, I found it easier to Marinette's POV first, and then go back and write Adrien's scenes.) But I wrote it, so what make sense to me wouldn't necessarily mean that it makes sense for a reader.
> 
> If you have any questions, let me know. =)


	4. How to Train Your Demigod

When they arrived at the airport check-in desk, Adrien was surprised to find that he could read the clerk's name tag.

"Good morn- I mean evening," said the Aurea the check-in clerk, cheerfully. "Welcome to Delta Airlines. The weather sure is beautiful for flying with a strong westerly wind-"

"I'd like two return flights for Nathalie and Hanno to Mount Olympus," interrupted Nathalie, handing over the three passports, "and a one way ticket for Adrien."

"And what were the dates for the return flights?"

"Tomorrow."

"Easy-breezy," Aurea said, smiling. She typed a few things into her computer while chatting animatedly about how they had to visit the new fountain building designed by some demigod.

"Aren't you staying?" Adrien asked. Even if it was Nathalie and The Gorilla, it would have been good to have some friendly faces at Camp Half-Blood.

"We have work to do in Paris," she told him. "Our job is to find more offspring of the gods and goddesses like you and bring them to safety."

Adrien wondered which Greek god was his father. It was probably Hades, god of death.

The clerk suddenly stopped in the middle of recommending that they go and try the honey cakes at eateries by Hestia's hearth and frowned. "Uh, unfortunately, all borders of Mount are still closed. I thought it would've been fine by now…"

"How long has it been like this?"

"For about a month," she said sheepishly.

"Surely you should've known this." Nathalie rubbed her temples and muttered "airhead aura" under her breath so low that Adrien barely heard it. "A flight to New York then. How much will that be?"

The clerk cheered up. "Any checked in luggage?"

"No, carry on only."

"Just a moment."

While Aurea continued to chatter away and book the tickets, Adrien asked Nathalie a question. "Isn't Mount Olympus in Greece?"

"The entrance is now in the Empire State Building, New York. It would be safer to fly there than a commercial airport, but I guess we'll have no other choice. We can still get someone to pick us up and take us to Camp Half-Blood from there."

"The tickets will cost five dekadrachm, two tetradrach- oh, and a triobol," announced Aurea.

Adrien didn't know how expensive that was, but judging from the twitch in Nathalie's eyebrow, that was expensive.

Nathalie handed her a bronze credit card over the counter. "Credit and sign."

"Sure." The clerk then took out a laminated sheet with a list of prohibited items. The list included aerosols, liquids and weapons in their activated form. "While I make the transaction, please review the list to ensure that you are not carrying any of these items."

Nathalie impatiently tapped the counter. "Is there an Iris call booth somewhere?" she asked.

The clerk waved her arms towards her left. "There is, around the corner. However please be advised that Iris calls to Olympian gods, goddesses and other residents of Mount Olympus cannot be connected."

Nathalie narrowed her eyes. "I see. In that case, can you arrange a car rental for one day?"

"Absolutely, and I assume with the full security features as well?"

"Yes."

"That will cost another didrachm, please."

"Just charge it to the card. Is there other news that we should be aware of?"

"Nothing," she said, handed them the ticket. "Here are your tick-oh but wait! I remember! Percy Jackson has been missing for a few days now. Word on the air is that things are really bad in Mount Olympus."

"You don't say."

Adrien wondered who this Percy Jackson was.

"Is that all?" Aurea said with a bright smile.

"That is all."

"In that case, please remember to be at the boarding gate at the time written on the ticket and have a safe flight!"

* * *

Dear Diary,

A new day, a new demigod. This one arrived just as lunch was being packed away. We had spinach and salmon quiche which is one of my favourite foods they serve at the camp, but even that wasn't able to remove the sting of just losing the capture the flag game because the Hephaestus Cabin's automatons exploded. The dragon might be gone from the woods but it doesn't mean that the curse had been lifted. Our team also had the Ares kids who were very angry and annoyed. The Aphrodite kids who on the other side were being annoying, laughing at us. I can't believe we lost! We were winning too…

But, there's no point dwelling on that too much. We will win next time for sure!

What was I writing about? Oh, that's right! The new demigod!

His name is Adrien Agreste. Yes – Agreste, as in he is the son of the muse of Gabriel, my favourite designer. He's even been in a few of his fashion ad campaigns. I thought that he looked familiar...

You'd think that with his golden hair like Jason and his model physique that he would be another child of Aphrodite's, but it turns out that he's Apollo's like Nino. A ray of sunshine followed him around like a stage spotlight for an hour.

I hope that he was wearing sunscreen. Or do Apollo's kids not get sunburnt?

Now that I think about it, Adrien looks a lot like Will Solace, the head counsellor of Apollo, but with tidier hair and green eyes brighter than Percy's.

What? It's really hard not to notice that.

Anyways, according to Alya, who apparently was friends with him in Paris he's really nice. She said that was worried about him when she left for Camp Half-Blood because he didn't really seem to have any other friends.

However, when we went up to welcome him to the camp, guess who pushed me out of the way to greet him with a hug.

"Hey, Chloe."

Yeah, that's what he said.

Alya claims that he's her friend and that she trusts him, but I don't know about that. He didn't even greet her and he's clearly really good friends with Chloe, who's not a character you can trust. I don't think you should trust anyone associated with Chloe.

For the rest of the day she was latched onto him and made disgusting cooing sounds like a pigeon while he walked around the camp signing autographs.

Anyways, I have to sleep. It's getting late. Who knows what other demigod will arrive tomorrow.

* * *

"We have to sit with our cabins for dinner, but we'll talk again later," said Chloe Bourgeois.

He was surprised to see her here. He thought that she was on a high school exchange.

She blew Adrien a kiss and went to sit down at the Aphrodite Cabin's table. In all honesty, all he really wanted to do was eat and sleep. His last meal was breakfast on the plane and when he arrived at Camp-Half Blood, they had just finished lunch. Not to mention, he was jetlagged.

Soon after he arrived he was claimed by Apollo and then he was shown around the camp by Chloe.

She insisted on clinging on him, which made Adrien nervous. He didn't want her to get infected with whatever he gave to Gabriel.

He wondered what had happened to Gabriel. Even though he had controlled his memories, Adrien hoped that he didn't kill him. But Gabriel looked really ill with whatever he did to him. What if he did kill him? Some offspring of the god of healing he was turning out to be.

However, Chloe didn't seem affected by anything as she gave him the tour.

For the most part, the place looked just as he would've imagined how an American summer camp would have looked. It was in the woods, there was a giant lake, there was a place for a campfire, everyone slept in cabins, there were horses and there was a rock climbing wall. Except this rock-climbing wall spewed lava, and the horses were had wings and the Cabins were personalised to represent a Greek God.

The Apollo Cabin looked fairly ordinary compared to the some of the other ones such as the Ares one which had barbed wired on the roof and boar's head above the door. However, in the sunlight the Apollo Cabin gleamed like solid gold.

Adrien wasn't introduced to any of the other Apollo kids on the tour, and he wished he was. He felt nervous at the thought of sitting down on a table with kids that he didn't know, even though they were supposed to be his siblings. From what he remembered, he didn't spend that much time around other kids.

A part of him wished that Nathalie and The Gorilla didn't have to leave so soon after dropping him off at the camp. But they had to go help the other kids that didn't know that they were a demigod. And if he wanted to help find his mother, he would have to complete his training. They promised to message him if they got word about his mother.

Adrien waved in reply to Chloe, and sat down on the Apollo table. He put on a smile and waved to the boy next to him. "Hey, Adrien," he said.

The boy just replied coolly, "You're friends with Chloe then, huh?"

Adrien looked over at her and cringed. She was yelling at some other girl.

"I've known Chloe since I was a little kid," he admitted. He rubbed the back of his head. "I know she's not perfect, but she's like my only friend."

At this the boy's expression softened. "I'm Nino," he said, offering a hand, "and it's time for you to make some new friends dude, even more than a friend, a bro."

Adrien, hesitated slightly, and then took the hand.

"So I hear that you're from Paris," said Nino. He held up a dish. "By the way, did you want some casserole?"

"Yes please, I'm starving. And, yeah," he said taking some of the food, "I lived in Paris, at least when I wasn't travelling. Where are you from?"

"Paris, as well."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I came over here a few months ago with Chloe and Marinette who is sitting at the Tyche Cabin's table over there. Ah, she's talking with Alya from the Hermes Cabin who you might know. She mentioned that she knew you back in Paris."

"Yeah." A part of him wanted to say hi to her, but he didn't really know what to say. "I think so."

"Think so?"

Adrien finished chewing his food before speaking again. "I'm having trouble with my memory."

"You're a little young for memory loss, but Alya did say something about that."

"Apparently it's Mist."

Nino rested his chin on his palm. "Any nausea?"

Adrien shook his head.

"Pain?"

"Not unless I try to remember something that I don't."

"That's how I felt all the time in school," laughed Nino. "And you don't do drugs or alcohol?"

"No." Adrien added after a moment, "occasionally a bit of champagne at dinner."

The other boy stroked his chin. "Do take any medication?"

"Nope."

"It's probably Mist," concluded Nino. "It will most likely wear off in a day. But probably ask Will Solace once he's finished treating all those casualties from this morning's capture the flag game. Man, that was absolute carnage… Anyways, Will is much better at the healing than I am. My talents lie more in the music domain. Hey, do you play any instrument?"

"I can play the piano."

Nino smiled broadly. "Awesome! We could use someone on the keyboard at the campfire session. What do you say?"

"Sure," said Adrien, returning the smile.

* * *

Dear Diary,

Alya and Nino both claimed that Adrien is a good person, but I knew that a friend of Chloe's couldn't be trusted.

We had the Trials of Strength today in the arena and during the tandem tug of war competition he and Nino joined as a team. They were against two members from the Ares cabin who were trash talking and throwing Yo-Mama jokes as usual. Then the Ares cabin started violently coughing and struggling to breathe. It looked as if Adrien was doing that with his powers because Nino approached Adrien but then he too was inflicted with whatever it was.

You're not supposed to use your powers in a Trial of Strength! And what kind of child of Apollo inflicts a disease instead of healing them, especially to a friend? If he really was Nino's friend, then he would stop and help them, but instead he ran away, unable to face up to his mistakes.

Alya thinks that it wasn't intentional but I said it before and I'll say it again wouldn't put anything past someone who's a friend of Chloe's.

Will Solace rushed to sick campers and immediately sent them to the infirmary. They haven't been released yet so it must be serious.

I'm just so angry, I -

Ah! I completely forgot to write about the arrow, the lyre and the honey pot incident!

I'll write about it next time. I can't process anything else today.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> One thing that I find both useful and tricky to deal with are all the details that are in Miraculous Ladybug and the Heroes of Olympus series. It helps make the characters more consistent with the canon (and fill out the word count) but sometimes it means that I have to rewrite some scenes.
> 
> In the original draft, I had Apollo pick up Adrien from Paris in his Maserati of fire, and the part of the conversation with Nino where he was trying to diagnose Adrien was originally supposed to be in the car ride.
> 
> But then I remembered that Zeus had closed Olympus about a month before Jason arrived at camp half blood, so out with Apollo, in with Nathalie. There was another fun chapter I had drafted up that included Apollo that had to be taken out too. Luckily it didn't actually affect the plot. Maybe I can recycle parts of it elsewhere.
> 
> Please let me know if something doesn't make sense to you. And thank you for reading!


	5. The Three Demigods

The front door of the Big House opened and Will Solace, the head counsellor of the Apollo cabin, stepped out on to the porch. "Hey, bro I know you're out there," he called out.

Adrien jumped down from the tree he was hiding in. "Hi, I just wanted to know if Nino and the others are all right."

"They'll be out tomorrow. But why don't c'mon in?" Will held the door open. "Nino has been asking about you."

Adrien hesitated. "Aren't you worried about me causing more illnesses?"

A lot of people, even his cabin mates, were giving him a wide berth because they thought that he would make them sick. Some kids had yelled out "Plague!" when he arrived to breakfast. Adrien couldn't blame them. He's only been at the camp for only a couple of days and he's nearly killed three kids. He might've even killed Gabriel, not that anyone knew that.

"Not really. I don't think that you did it intentionally and there's plenty of ambrosia nearby just in case."

"Ambrosia?" He heard Nathalie mention that Gabriel had an ambrosia cupboard.

"Food of the gods," Will explained. "It can heal demigods when taken in small amounts."

That meant he could still be alive. Adrien had mixed feelings about this information. He didn't want to be a killer, but he didn't exactly have warm feelings towards Gabriel. For reasons Adrien couldn't' imagine, that man had manipulated his memories, effectively held him captive for months and had hidden information about his mother from him.

"And in big amounts?" asked Adrien.

"It will kill you. Are you coming in?"

"Yes, thanks." He hurried through the open door.

Will led him through the house and stopped at a wash basin to wash his hands. "We have to wash our hands. They had pertussis, whooping cough. It's all right. They're no longer contagious, and you should've been vaccinated for that already. I'm pretty sure that I read in your medical records that you had been. Make sure you dry your hands too, and grab a face mask from there just in case, bro. As I said, there's always ambrosia, but prevention is always better than the cure."

"How can you call me bro? What kind of Apollo kid am I if I cause plagues instead of healing people?"

"Apollo is the god of plagues too, you know. And it's not that bad. Look on the bright side," he insisted. "If you're able to control your power then that might give us further insight into other diseases. Don't worry about it too much. We have amputees on a weekly basis here most of them caused by the Ares cabin, but the Athena cabin come a close second. "Tactics," Annabeth called it. Have you finished washing your hands? Good. Let's go see Nino."

Adrien nodded and followed him.

"'Sup bro," said Will. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good. Can I leave now?"

"Tomorrow, after a good night's rest, but in the meantime there's a visitor for you." He marked something on a clipboard at the foot of Nino's bed. "I'll let you guys have about ten minutes. It's almost lights out time and I don't want anyone in my cabin to get in trouble."

"Thanks," they said and Will left.

Adrien looked at Nino lying in bed hooked up to all of the monitoring system. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right bro. I know that you didn't mean it and you heard our leader. I'll be out first thing in the morning. All of this stuff is just precautionary and besides, it's not the worst thing that has happened to me here."

Adrien wondered what the worst thing that happened to him was.

"But enough about me, how are you finding camp Half-Blood?" Nino asked.

"Good."

"Make any friends?"

"Uhh…" In truth, after the whole plague incident, Adrien had been avoiding everyone and had just sat on the roof of the Apollo Cabin where it was sunny, warm and away from the others.

"Dude you want to make friends right? Go talk to the others."

"But what should I say?"

"Just be yourself."

"No offence," said Adrien, shoulders sagging, "but that advice isn't really that useful."

"Why don't you trying cracking a joke? Uhh... Let me think." Nino looked around the room as if he was searching for inspiration. After a moment his eyes lit up. "I know! Do you play basketball?"

Did Adrien play basketball? His specialty was three-pointers from the wings. "Yeah."

"Then tomorrow, when I get out of here, let's play and show them what you're made of."

* * *

Dear Diary,

I didn't write an entry last night because the three demigods came back in the middle of dinner. They suddenly appeared on top of the Aphrodite cabin's table, Piper's foot in Drew's pizza. They looked sick. I think that Leo threw up, but that's not that important.

Will gave them a milk and nectar to drink they told their story. They encountered cyclopes in Detroit, Medea in Chicago, and Mideas who turned Piper into gold. You know what? I'll include a copy of the bulletin article that Alya posted up this morning. Last night she asked a million and one questions before Chiron made us all go to sleep although I don't think that she slept. That article was really long and well written. She was more jittery than usual at breakfast, and was drinking coffee out of a mug that looked more like a bowl. How much coffee had she had?

I think there's a bit more that the three demigods haven't told us yet, but they'll probably tell us in the counsellor meeting once Annabeth and Rachel return. They're due any minute now.

This will be my first counsellor meeting as the head counsellor of the Tyche cabin. There's not that many of us, but they elected me to lead them. I just hope that I don't let them down.

Speaking of head counsellors, Piper is now the senior counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin. This morning there was a large cheer from the Aphrodite cabin and she was carried out on their shoulders, all in their pyjamas and bed hair. That was a first. The Aphrodite cabin normally considers it social suicide to have even a hair out of place.

I heard from Alya that Piper challenged Drew for the role and told her that she was being a dictator. Drew then chickened out of the duel and stepped down.

She also apparently threatened to load Drew into a catapult if she even looks at Jason. She is a child of Aphrodite after all.

I think that I've misjudged her and I think that she'll do a good job as senior counsellor. She's already abolished that stupid rite of passage that the Aphrodite cabin has where they break someone's heart. The other Aphrodite kids seem to like her. They've been chasing away any demigod and any nymph that were eyeing Jason for her as he was playing basketball with Nino and the other new demigod.

I don't know why Nino continues to hang around him, but I can't dictate who he should or shouldn't be friends with.

In other news, that's not the only change in leadership. Leo is now in charge of the Hephaestus Cabin and he found a secret bunker that dates to the American Civil war. Also, it looks like the Curse on Cabin Nine has broken, which is good because I was seriously getting traumatised by all the automatons blowing up and malfunctioning.

Again, I heard this all from Alya. I have no idea how she finds out about all of this so soon.

Somehow Leo found out he found out that I can bake and he asked me to bake something for him. And I think he's commissioned the kitchen to be renovated just for that.

I can't make them as well as Papa, but I don't mind. Baking makes me feel a little bit closer to home.

* * *

Over the past few days Adrien had participated in camp life. He played basketball with Nino, went canoeing in the lake, got a few burns while rock climbing, and played the keyboard at the campfire sessions. The camp was preparing for war against the giants so there was a lot of training going on. Every day he had an archery session with Will and sword fighting with Jason. Thanks to Nino, the other kids had started to warm up to him, although the feeling was more lukewarm. No one was shouting "plague" around him anymore but no one was asking him to sit with him. Still, he often liked taking walks in the woods or climbing a tree to be by himself. He was, in fact, walking in the woods by himself when he heard someone shout for help.

Adrien rushed in the direction of the sound and found a demigod at the foot of limestone cliffs struggling under a pile of celestial bronze. He moved pieces until the demigod was free.

"Muchas gracias, hombre," he said, dusting himself off. "I was just bringing back more metal from the forges, but then forgot that I needed a hand to open the bunker. It was lucky that you found me. I thought that I was a goner. I've heard that there are killer ants here. Don't tell Piper otherwise I'll never hear the end of it." He began speaking in falsetto. ""Leo, don't injure yourself or do anything stupid while I'm gone." I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus."

"Adrien Agreste, son of the Sun god," he said. He had seen the other boy around camp, but hadn't really talked to him much.

"That was a good one. Since you're here, son of the Sun god, you might as well help me out."

While Adrien felt happy that Leo was being friendly, he was wary. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah why?"

"Haven't you heard about me?"

"Well, since I've come back I've been busy building the Argo II. We only have six months to build it when we should have twelve, at least. I've been literally living under a rock." Leo put a hand on the cliff face and lines of fire spread from his hand. An outline of a massive door appeared and swung open. "So, nope. I've heard nothing about you. Can you grab some of that? Thanks. Now, what should I know about you?"

Adrien picked up a small pile of metal and followed Leo inside the cavern. "Well, I cause plagues with my power," he admitted, "And I nearly killed Nino and some Ares kids with it."

"Dude, I've seen those kids. I'm certain that they're always trying to kill us."

That didn't really help Adrien, but he didn't want to admit that.

"Where do I put it?"

"On that table, thanks," Leo said. He must've then seen the conflicted expression on Adrien's face because he said, "I know the feeling of having an unwanted power. I can control fire, and apparently that spells catastrophic times for everyone. And I didn't like my power at first. I thought that I killed my mother with it."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Adrien hadn't talked about how he might've killed Gabriel or how his mother was missing but now he definitely wasn't going to. It sounded trivial compared to what Leo went through.

"Dude, don't worry about it, it was some psycho goddess' fault. Controlling fire is a pretty useful skill, and you should hear the other kids' stories. Some have it worse than me. The point is, there are people here who know what you are going through and you shouldn't blame yourself for things that are out of your control. Are we cool?" He held out a fist.

"Yeah."

"Dude, what you are doing? Pound it!"

"Oh, sorry. I'm kind of new to this."

Adrien copied Leo and made a fist and Leo tapped it with his own.

"No problemo- woah what on earth?"

* * *

Dear Diary,

Maybe I was mistaken about Adrien all along. I seem to be mistaken about a number of people recently. Close to lunchtime, I was delivering a box of macarons Leo who usually is found at Bunker Nine building the Argo II in preparation for the great quest, when I overheard Adrien having a conversation with him.

He was talking about how he feels guilty about nearly killing the others with his powers, and also about how he never really had any friends before.

A lot of the kids here have done terrible things, but they don't seem to be very remorseful. The Ares kids literally build weapons and traps designed to kill people.

When I overheard that, I was pretty sure that that was a private conversation that I shouldn't have overheard so I tried to back away quickly. Of course, instead of tiptoeing away silently, I bumped into a pile of scrap metal which made a loud crash, fell and released all of the macarons into the sky.

Why was there a pile of celestial bronze lying there by the door?!

Leo was doubled over in laughter, but Adrien asked if I was okay.

I tried to shrug off the fall by not taking his hand, but when I stood up, I tripped again and fell into his arms. It was so embarrassing, but he was so nice about it. He wasn't the jerk that I thought he was. When I fell, he had tried to help me up. He didn't start laughing at me like Leo did. He did chuckle, but I'll admit that that the fall was one of my more comical falls. He helped me pick up all the ruined macarons even though he didn't have to. They wouldn't have been edible anyways. Then he left before I could even say thank you. Actually, I couldn't say much of anything. I could barely say a coherent sentence because I couldn't stop stuttering. Why couldn't I- oh gods.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Thank you for reading this story. I thought that this chapter would be an easy one to edit. The plot hadn't changed much from the original drafts. The only thing that wasn't really there at first was the conversation with Nino. And I think Will was Chiron originally in this chapter but I wanted Adrien to have a stronger bond with his bros. But yeah, most of the sentences got flipped around or rewritten to flow differently. Writing is a weird process.
> 
> Anyways, if you could, please let me know what you think and if you think if anyone that feels out of character. That would be much appreciated. :)


	6. 10 Things I Like About You

Dear Diary,

Sometimes it's difficult being friends with Alya. She's too smart for her own good. For example, when I sat down next to her at breakfast she immediately said, "Wow, you're in a good mood today. Is it to do with a boy?"

How does she figure this stuff out so quickly? The macarons incident only happened last yesterday! And I only realized my feelings an hour or so after that!

She thought they boy was Leo at first, but I told her that I didn't like him.

I mean, I like Leo but only as a friend. He's a good person and he always tries to make others laugh. But as a boyfriend? I don't like him that way. He's not my type. He's a bit too cocky and he's always making puns. They're not even that funny. Okay they're not always that bad. That "time to get a watch" pun deserved a laugh. What I can't stand though is that he has to show off and I'm not into guys like that. I'm a little hard on him. He has a lot of cool things about him. He's good to the other Hephaestus kids and his automatons are really inventive, if somewhat bizarre like that side table of his…

Maybe I should've told Alya that I did like him so she wouldn't have found out who I do like, but I couldn't do that to Leo. She would've teased me about him instead, and then Piper would've heard and then he would've been invited into the conversation. Then they would've kept saying that I had something to say to him until I blurted out, probably in a massive crowd that just so happened to be there because my luck works both ways, that I don't like him romantically. And that would've been awful to Leo. I think he's got a bit of a crush on me, you know.

Actually, no - telling the truth of was the best thing I could've done. Alya would've figured out the truth anyways. If she thinks that there's a secret, she'll uncover the truth.

After I told her that it wasn't Leo that I liked, it didn't take her long at all to figure out that I like Adrien.

THERE! I WROTE IT!

And yes, Piper overheard us talking about it even though Alya and I should've been alone in the strawberry fields during lunch! Aphrodite kids must have a sixth sense for anything love related.

As the Aphrodite Cabin's senior counsellor, Piper has declared that it is her own personal quest "to spread love and bring people together" and offered an alliance with Alya who, despite my protests, accepted. So for the rest of the day they would tell me every time he was within the vicinity - as if I didn't already notice – and then invite him to join the conversation.

At least I have no fear of blurting out to Adrien that I like him because I can't even get a coherent word out when he's around.

Ugh… I'm in so deep. Gods and goddesses, help me.

* * *

"Morning guys," said Piper McLean, interrupting Nino and Adrien's conversation about the latest Jagged Stone single. "Do you mind if we sit next to you for breakfast?"

"But don't we have seats over-ouch," said Leo, rubbing his side where she elbowed him. "Never mind."

Jason Grace did nothing except raise an eyebrow while she continued to smile.

"Not at all," said Nino, making room for them. He then pointed at the newspaper that Jason was holding. "What activities are going on?"

He squinted slightly and read, "In the morning the Apollo cabin has sword fighting followed by Greek lessons and then friendship bracelet making."

"Sword fighting sounds good," said Adrien. "I use to do fencing."

"What kind of son of the god of archery are you?" asked Nino.

"Actually," interjected Piper, "in one of the epics was written that Apollo rode into battle with a sword."

"Wow," said Leo, sarcastically, "Beauty and brains. Ouch!"

"And in the afternoon?" said Nino.

"There's baking with Marinette at 2 o'clock," said Alya sitting down at the table with Marinette. "And don't forget to read the killer article on the front page written by yours truly."

"You're actually starting the baking classes?" asked Nino.

"You bake?" said Adrien.

"My father owns a boulangerie in Paris and I help out sometimes," she explained, quietly. "I'm not that good though."

"Nonsense!" explained Leo. "The macarons were amazing! Marinette you're really-ow Pip-ow!"

"What are you teaching in the class?" said Nino.

But Marinette was hardly paying any attention. She stood up and excused herself from the table.

"Leo!" hissed Piper.

"Piper!"

"Not now, Jason."

Meanwhile, Marinette had walked over to the Aphrodite table where Chloe and Drew Tanaka were laughing.

"Excuse me," Adrien overheard Marinette say.

"Why should we?" said Drew, "You're the one bothering us."

"Actually, you're bothering me. I couldn't help but hear your conversation from over there and I really don't think that you should be saying those things at all."

"How do you know what we're talking about? You're Chinese."

Marinette huffed and put her fists on her hips. Was this the same quiet girl from a moment ago? "I know that I look Chinese but I am also French and have lived in Paris all my life and I understood every single word that you said."

"Mind your own beeswax," said Chloe. "We weren't even talking about you."

"And that makes it okay? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."

"It's not as if they understood," said Drew.

"Just because you're speaking in another language it doesn't mean that you can say such rude things about other people. And how do you know if they don't understand? You didn't realize that I spoke French!"

"What is going on here?" said Chiron.

"Nothing," said Drew and Chloe.

"Chloe and Drew were saying some awful things about the other campers behind their back in French."

"Is this true?"

Adrien was struck by how quiet it was now. Everyone was paying attention to what was happening at the Aphrodite table.

"Well if anyone wants to add anything you can speak to me later or to your head counsellor," Chiron announced.

"Sir-"

"Thank you, Marinette, for standing up to them, but I'll take it from here. You may speak to me later."

"But-"

"You've done your job. Thank you."

"Yes, sir."

"As for you two," said Chiron, addressing Chloe and Drew, "I'll need to speak to the both of you in my office after lunch. But first apologise to the campers you insulted and get ready for your morning activities."

Drew spoke up. "May I remind you of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression-"

"Ah, yes. And "the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers". I was there when it was written," said Chiron, tapping a hoof on the ground. "May I remind you that most legal systems recognize that the freedom of speech is not intended to conflict with other rights and freedoms, or as France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen states, "Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights." Do you understand?"

They didn't say anything.

"I said, "Do you understand?""

"Yes, sir."

"If I hear more complaints about you I'll have to begin taking away your privileges."

"You'll hear from my father," declared Chloe.

"The phone rights will be the first to go."

Chloe and Drew stayed silent.

"Good," said Chiron. "Now where is the Aphrodite head counsellor?"

Piper stood up. "Here, sir."

"See me once everyone in your cabin is all settled in their first morning activity."

"Yes, sir."

Chiron clapped his hands. "Everyone, go back to your breakfast."

Marinette sat back down at the table.

"That was great Marinette," said Nino.

"I didn't know that you were mixed Chinese and French," said Leo.

"It's a bit of a complicated story, but yeah, I am."

"No wonder that you're really pretty – Ouch. What is your problem Piper? You're pretty too! Is that what you want? Don't look so glum."

"Oh, never mind," said Piper. "I'm still not used to being the head counsellor."

"Don't worry," said Marinette. "You're doing a fantastic job!"

Alya hugged Marinette. "And you did too! I'm so proud of you, Marinette. What do you think, Adrien?"

"I thought that it was very brave."

She avoided his eyes. He wondered if he said something wrong.

Alya smiled brightly though. "Thanks to Marinette, I now have a headlining story for tomorrow's bulletin. Now all I need to do is come up with a catchy headline!"

* * *

Dear Diary,

Today the Hunters of Artemis arrived for some war games in preparation for the war against the giants. Jason Grace has been trying to organise this for several weeks, but they've been busy doing Hunter stuff until now.

Tomorrow, we'll be having a Capture the Flag game against them as per tradition. The current score stands at 56 to 0, their way. That's unacceptable.

Everyone at camp wants to win against the Hunters. Even Clarisse and Annabeth have set aside their differences (mostly) to defeat the common enemy. The Apollo kids are especially pumped up because of the sibling rivalry history between Artemis and Apollo.

Speaking of sibling rivalry, it turns out that Jason is the younger (older?) brother of Artemis' Lieutenant (she was a tree for some time and now she's immortal so there's a bit of confusion about her age). He's been teaching us some Roman war tactics. Granted, we're not that organized yet with all of the new talent coming in now that the gods and goddesses have to declare their children, but who knows, maybe all we need is a little bit of pressure for everything to click into place.

We've come up with a really good plan at the war meeting. We'll have three main teams; Annabeth's, Clarisse's and Jason's. Annabeth's team is going to defend our flag and consists of most of the Athena, Demeter, Hephaestus and Apollo (those who aren't on the medic team) Cabins. Clarisse's team with the Ares, Dionysus and Hermes cabins are the decoys. They'll be entering enemy territory first to draw the Hunter's defences, and when they find it, they'll send a Hermes camper as a messenger to Jason's team who will be waiting on our side of the river. Jason's team mostly consist of back-up for Clarisse's team or jail-breakers, but there are three small teams whose role is to capture the flag because there are only allowed to be two people guarding the flag.

I'm leading one of the smaller teams to try and get the flag. The idea is that we need all the luck we can get to win.

Piper managed to convince everyone to put Adrien on my team on the grounds that we "work really well together during training." I suspect that the reason that we were often grouped together was because of her even if she wasn't present.

I'm nervous, but there are more important things to worry about!

There's no need to worry about the Hunters finding out about this plan. My diary is protected by a lot of traps. And if a Hunter tries to break in, they'll be caught and have to miss out on the game.

Tomorrow, the Hunters will become the hunted!

All we need to do is to stop Leo from fraternizing with the enemy.

They Hunters claim that they've forsaken men or something, but there's one called Lila who is such a total liar it makes me question the integrity of their vows. Apparently she's flown on a private jet with Prince Ali, she's had Jagged Stone write a song about her, and she knows Steven Spielberg.

The worst thing is that she's been talking to Adrien, the love of my life about her incredible "life".

Focus Marinette! We have a war to win!

* * *

"Hey!"

Adrien snapped back to reality and noticed that the leaves of the branch he was hiding behind was rotting and disintegrating. He apologised to the nymph who left, grumbling about how teenagers haven't changed over the millennia with absolutely no regard for life forms other than their own.

Silence came back to the forest. Adrien was waiting with Jason's team near the river on the campers' side. They were waiting for a Hermes' Cabin scout from Clarisse's team to bring those updates.

"CHARGE!" The command reverberated in the forest.

"That sounds like Clarisse," said Jason. "I told her not to do that."

The clashing of swords and battle cries followed. The campers greatly outnumbered the Hunters, but Artemis' loyal followers claimed that they would win regardless.

"See anything?" Jason asked Piper who was looking at her knife intently.

"Nope," she replied. She returned her knife to its sheath and then pointed down to the forest floor. "Is that Alya?"

It was. Alya went directly to Jason to give him her report. "Clarisse's team found the flag by Zeus' Fist, but they're losing ground," Adrien heard Alya say.

"And my sister?" Jason's sister was the Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. "Where is she?"

"No idea."

"Then she must be trying to steal our flag," said Jason. "Thanks for the information. We'll go to Clarisse, but can you pass on the information to Annabeth?"

"Sure." Before Alya left, she waved to her best friend, Marinette, and then said to Adrien, "Make sure she doesn't get hurt, okay?"

"Okay." Adrien didn't want to let the campers down. They entrusted him with this job.

Jason turned to address the team. "Okay. Marinette's team, you go to the Fist's left, Connor's, you take the right, and Travis's team will come from behind. If you can't get it, make sure to get a signal out."

"Yes, sir."

Adrien followed Marinette and one of the Nike twins through the canopy. He had no idea why he was in Marinette's team. He wasn't sure that she liked him much. She never really said anything around him. He respected her though. She was a good leader and was known for being able to come up with really good plans on the spot.

What he could see of the battle through the trees was pure chaos. Jason was flying around like a blond Superman. Chloe was too, but she didn't have flying powers.

"SAVE ME!"

She was saved by Piper.

When they arrived at Zeus's fist, the two guards were already distracted with Connor and Travis' teams, so that meant it was up to Marinette's team to go and steal the flag.

Marinette pointed at a spot in the tree, and Adrien nodded. The twin kept watch. Adrien threw his spear into the tree. It embedded itself deep into the bark with a satisfying thump. Marinette flung her lasso and caught the spear. She gave it a tug to see if it could take her weight before swinging down to grab flag.

The hair on the back of Adrien's neck stood up and he twisted out of the way to narrowly avoid being hit by the Hunter, Lila. The Nike twin was captured. Lila played a tune on her flute and a snarling fox appeared. Adrien raised his hand up, but nothing happened. His javelin was still stuck in the tree and there was no sunlight to return his weapon to his right hand. He was left defenceless.

Just when he thought that he was going to get bit by the fox or thrown into jail, Marinette swung into them on the rope. She grabbed his arm and swung them both to safety. They landed on their feet and ran towards Travis Stoll but he was hit by an arrow.

Jason landed in front of them. The fighting had reached Zeus' Fist.

"Go!" He threw a lightning bolt at a Hunter and then yelled, "Greeks! Protect Marinette! Protect the flag!"

"You heard your leader!" Piper said over a celestial bronze megaphone. "Protect Marinette and the flag!"

A group of people including Adrien surrounded Marinette and the flag and started running towards the river. They had to fight off the hunters and all of their snares and traps that they laid out.

Sunlight filtered through the trees and Adrien got his spear back.

One by one, the campers surrounding Marinette were claimed by the Hunters until only Adrien remained. He heard the whistle of an arrow, turned around and spun his spear. The arrow was deflected.

They were close to the boundary now. Adrien could hear the river, but he could also see the bright orange Camp Half-Blood flag. That meant that the Hunters had made it past the Demeter Cabin's growing trip hazards, and Ares Cabin's booby traps.

But the Hunters hadn't won yet.

A pegasus galloped in. Its head came off and Leo emerged from his super-fast Trojan Pegasus automaton.

"You may be hot," he yelled, "but I'm hotter!"

A wall of flames erupted along the banks of the far side of the river. It was hot. The roar and crackling of the flames muffled clash of weaponry.

Marinette glanced backwards and cried, "They're gaining on us! If only - the trees!"

Adrien looked at what she was looking at and somehow he knew what to do. "Leave it to me." He stopped and held his hand out on the nearest trunk. The nearby trees began to wither away and they toppled over blocking the Hunter's path.

The heat dropped suddenly and Adrien could hear the sound of the river again. He turned around. The wall of fire had extinguished. Leo lay on the ground, an arrow protruding from his back. Marinette and the Hunter's Lieutenant both made it to the river banks, the opposing team's flag in their hands. They ran through the hail of arrows, but none were able to touch them. Both crossed the river, but Adrien didn't see who crossed first.

The sound of a conch shell resonated through the forest signalling the end of the game. Everyone stopped except for the medics who were busy removing arrows and putting people on stretchers.

Chiron came galloping in. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"IT'S A TIE!" he bellowed.

The campers cheered and the Hunters groaned. It was the first game that didn't end in the campers' defeat in fifty-six matches. Adrien was lifted up on to people's shoulders and carried to where Marinette was.

She looked bewildered, clutching onto the flag like her life still depended on it. Adrien beamed at her and raised a fist in her direction. "Good game."

She tapped it with her own and smiled. "Good game."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long delay! I had so many things going on, I just couldn't write. I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible, so I apologise if the quality isn't that good. Please let me know if there is something odd.
> 
> I don't know if I'm breaking too many rules of canon by having them tie a Capture the Flag game against the Hunters without Percy, but let's just pretend it happened.
> 
> The question Alya asked Marinette at the start of this chapter is actually one that I asked my best friend one morning class, and she was in a good mood because of a crush! Boy, I was surprised when she admitted that.
> 
> And thank you for reading, and thank you for reviewing! I really appreciate it!


	7. A Series of Fortunate Events

Dear Diary,

I still can't believe that we tied the capture the flag game against the Hunters! They claimed that there was foul play and demanded a rematch, but hey – all's fair in love and war, and they had to leave yesterday because there apparently is a monster in Florida. They're still in contact with Artemis, but they don't really have much more news than we do. They said that they'll come back for a rematch, but next time we'll definitely win for sure!

Even though it was only a tie, the campers are talking about immortalising this on this year's camp bead. It's even not even summer yet.

Leo also offered to have the Hephaestus Cabin create statues of me and Adrien, but they're already pressed for time to build the Argo II in time for the Summer solstice as it is. Why would they want to create a statue after me anyways? I can see why they would want to make one after Adrien, but me? It's probably because Alya hyped us up in her article. "The Superheroes of Camp Half-Blood," she called us. All of this attention is a little embarrassing, but I'll put a copy of the article in later for memory's sake.

Chiron has also asked Adrien and me to run a training class. Sure, I've done some baking classes, but that's different from running a training session. I'm not convinced that I deserve to do that, I was just lucky during the game, but Alya insisted that I at least try it.

"You'll get to spend more time together with him AND he'll be wearing his armour."

But if we keep spending time together, he'll think I'm following him like a stalker. Me? A stalker? Ha. Although I would follow him, I mean, I wouldn't really stalk him – Oh, who am I kidding? I know his whole schedule by heart.

That doesn't really help with figuring out what to do during the training sessions. Most of the weapons are already covered by people much more competent than I am. There's not much point in doing something that someone has already done and done well. And what's a skill I can do well enough that I can teach anyways? Using a rope? Running for my life? I'll need to think about it for a while.

* * *

Adrien noticed that most of the campers had been treating him nicer since the capture the flag game against the Hunters. Even the dryads weren't mad at him for destroying their trees during the game because they tied against the Hunters. It was a little weird when he remembered how he was originally treated, but at least there were people talking to him now.

"I really like that idea," Adrien told Marinette after a sing-a-long a few days later. She talked to him now, but only about the training class that Chiron asked then to run. She didn't really seem to like being around him more than required. "I like how it doesn't need new equipment to be built."

"But will Chiron allow it?"

"I can't see why not. It can't hurt to try."

"He bro," Nino said from the campfire, "you're could try helping us pack up."

"Sorry, Nino," Adrien told him. "I'll be right over."

Nino never let him get away with doing his chores even if he was one of the Superheroes of Camp-Half Blood. The two of them were supposed to pack up the musical equipment while everyone else had a debrief session with their head counsellor before going to sleep. It normally doesn't take that long, but it took longer that evening because Marinette, accompanied by Alya as usual, approached him to pitch her fantastic idea for the training session.

Adrien winked and pointed at Marinette. "I'll talk to you about your idea later."

"Did you want help with the instruments?" asked Alya.

"Don't insult us," retorted Nino, "we're men."

Adrien agreed out loud, but privately he thought that the cases were too heavy. At least it made the girls laugh.

"All right, men," said Alya. "We're going to get some beauty rest."

They barely exchanged goodbyes when they heard a blood curdling scream. It resonated and left Adrien with a ringing sensation in his ears.

"Did you guys hear that?" asked Adrien.

"I definitely heard that," replied Marinette. "We'd better scope it out."

Adrien put down the case he was carrying and said, "I think it came from the trees over there."

They followed Marinette who ran in the direction he pointed out. But when they arrived, there wasn't anything obvious to suggest something was wrong.

"Hey," Adrien called out, "anybody here?"

A dryad appeared suddenly in a puff of green mist and entered the torchlight. "Thank goodness you're here, Superheroes!"

"And friends!" added Nino.

Marinette stepped forward. "What's wrong? Was that you who screamed earlier?"

"That wasn't me, but the whispers in the trees are that the dryads in a nearby clearing captured an intruder."

Marinette crossed her arms. "We should tell Chiron." She noticed that her friend had her video camera out. "Alya, c'mon, stop filming."

The other girl waved dismissively. "Not a chance. This is just getting good."

"Well we're going back to camp. We don't know what's out there. It might be dangerous."

"No way," said Nino. "Let's see who they caught."

"We can just do a quick recon mission," said Adrien. "If we're quick, we should be fine."

Marinette sighed. "Then stay together, right behind me. That means you Spielberg."

They followed the directions and came to a clearing filled with more dryads who turned around when Adrien and the others approached.

"Oh, it's the Superheroes! Look what we caught!"

Adrien could make out a figure covered a thick liquid. Adrien hoped that it wasn't blood.

"What is that goo?" Nino asked.

"It's just tree sap," said one of the dryads. "It's safe to approach him. He won't be able to move."

Marinette cautiously approached the encased figure, and jumped up in surprise. "Is that a camper?!"

"Uh…"

The dryads looked at one another.

"He surprised us!" said one.

"Yeah, he just appeared out of the shadows!" added another. "What were we supposed to do?"

"Maybe not encase him in sap," suggested Nino.

"Can you release him?" Marinette asked the dryads.

"Yes, we'll do that."

Adrien stepped forward to help her lower the boy. He didn't recognise the dark haired boy. He found a slow pulse like he was taught, and exhaled in relief. Then, the boy slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Adrien asked.

"Will?"

He shook his head. "No, Adrien. You are?"

"It's Nico!" exclaimed Marinette. "We were wondering where you've been for months. How are you?"

Alya cut in and crouched down to get a better view with her camera. "I heard about you! You're the son of Hades, one of the Big Three. What are you doing here? I heard that you went looking for Percy Jackson. Have you found him yet?"

"Hey, Alya," said Nino, "let's leave him alone. He looks exhausted."

At that moment, Nico lost consciousness.

After a few intense moments of bickering about whether or not it was safe to move Nico, they carried him out of the dangerous woods and towards Big House on a stretcher made by the dryads. It was their way of apologising for encasing Nico. On the way there they bumped into Will.

"Where were you guys?" he asked. "I heard the scream, and when I went to check on you, you were gone!"

"We found Nico di Angelo in the woods," explained Marinette hurriedly. "He fainted."

Adrien and Nino put down Nico gently on the ground. Will's anger turned to worry as he checked Nico's vital signs.

"We couldn't find any external injuries," explained Adrien. "His pulse is constant, if a little weak."

"Honestly, Nico. I told you that you shouldn't push yourself so hard." Will then exhaled, a sign that the patient wasn't going deteriorate any time soon. He looked up at Adrien and the others. "Nino, help me take up to the Big House. I'll look after him there. The rest of you go to sleep. It's past lights out. And don't worry, the instruments are already packed away."

Soon after Nico was taken to the Big House, Adrien said goodnight to the girls and got ready for sleep which came slowly after that evening's events.

* * *

Dear Diary,

It's only a couple weeks left until Annabeth, Piper, Leo and Jason leave to fulfil the great prophecy. The Hephaestus Cabin is hard at work with building the Argo II. Nico, Tyson and the Hunters are still searching for Percy. In one of the war meetings, Jason said that the camp for the Roman demigods, Camp Jupiter, is somewhere on the West Coast, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Percy is there now.

A lot of campers have been going on various quests but I've just been at camp, training.

That being said, I think that training is going well. We've finally unveiled the parkour challenge today. A lot of the campers thought that racing across all the cabin roofs was too easy, but a many of them accidentally triggered traps on the Ares and Hecate cabins rooftops. Most people got stuck in the grass on the roof of the Demeter's Cabin.

We got a lot of positive feedback for the activity. Even when they weren't racing, the campers were really engrossed with cheering, or heckling the racers from the grass area in the centre of the cabins. Jason says that he was really impressed with how we were able to include climbing, jumping, running, balancing and problem solving skills in a creative way.

When we ran the session, I was the one explaining what to do while Adrien gave an example run. Many tried to replicate his technique of using a pole to get across the rooftops to varying degrees of success. He's really good at everything. He was so agile like a …cat!

Speaking of cats, you know how the other day I wrote that the Aphrodite Cabin had been copying Piper's style by chopping their hair and stringing feathers in their hair, and then Alya started lecturing Chloe and the others and then wrote an article about how what they're doing is cultural appropriation and isn't appropriate?

Well today Piper wore a Hello Kitty shirt and it looks as if the Aphrodite Cabin doesn't want to copy that outfit. Ha.

I have no idea where she got that shirt. The only t-shirts that the camp store sells are the orange camp shirts. Maybe she asked her father to have it delivered through Ebay or Amazon. Who knows? I thought that mortals can't enter Camp Half-Blood. Although, Percy once did mention that a mortal pizza guy did once.

* * *

The farewell party for the Argo II crew was during summer Solstice. After all the hard work building the Argo II and training that everyone had done over the months, everyone was really keen to let loose. For weeks, all that most of the girls would talk about was what they would wear to the party much to the dismay of the boys.

"Aw man. All I have are jeans and camp shirts," Nino had complained. "Where am I supposed to get proper clothes from?"

Luckily, Nathalie had packed Adrien's bag full designer wear. He even had some spare clothes that fit Nino and some of his other brothers. He wished that he wasn't wearing the blazer though; it was a little too warm for it.

A kid swore and complained about the win turning into water. Adrien recognised him as someone from the Dionysus cabin.

"He's probably still upset that he's not allowed alcohol," suggested Malcolm Pace, son of Athena.

"But he's all the way in Olympus!"

"Ugh, worst party ever!" complained a daughter of Dionysus.

But Adrien was enjoying himself immensely. It was his first party with people at his own age. He already had tasted wine at one of his mother's work dinners years ago so he didn't think that drinking was that big of a big deal anyways.

Nino was dj-ing and everyone seemed to enjoy the beats and was dancing along. Even Chloe didn't seem to have anything negative to say. Adrien was in the crowd trying not to get hit by Leo's erratic dancing in the centre of the circle.

"Jason, I told you too keep Leo away from the cool aid," he heard Piper scolded her boyfriend.

"Hi guys, mind if we join you?" said Alya, dragging Marinette by the arm.

"Not at all," said Adrien over the beats.

"Wow, guys," said Piper, "I love your dresses."

"Thanks," said Alya, posing, "Marinette made them."

Adrien looked again at what the girl next to him was wearing. Marinette had made a Grecian styled dress, made from red material that flowed and was tied off with a golden cord, and her hair was worn loose, brushing her collarbones.

"It suits you," said Adrien, "You're very talented."

"Thank you," she said.

Alya and Piper drifted into their own conversation, and he noticed that Marinette seemed uncomfortable on the dance floor.

He approached her slightly so she could hear him over the music, "Apparently, at parties you're not supposed to take yourself so seriously."

"Huh?"

"You're thinking too much. Don't worry about what others think, just move-," he did a silly move, "like this. Now you try."

"Like this?"

"Almost," he said, repeating the action.

This time she got it perfectly.

"Yeah, now try this."

They continued dancing this way, passing dance moves back and forth until somehow they ended up in a dance battle with the other campers. The Ares cabin got really into this until the music screeched to a stop. The campers booed.

Chiron held up his hands and apologized. "I think that now is a good time to bring up the four demigods chosen to fulfil the Great Prophecy. Today, you will sail on the Argo II to get the other demigods form the Roman and sail to the Old Continent and to stop Gaea's plans. Who would like to say something first? Leo?"

"Sure. Umm, well I'm just glad that we got the Argo II built in time. A mad shout out to my hermanos and hermanas in the Hephaestus Cabin. You guys are crazy talented and I still can't believe that we managed to put this all together in an inconceivable amount of time!"

Piper was next and she had a really short speech about how she also thanked everyone for their hard work and how she loved them all.

"And now Jason will share a few words."

Jason cleared his throat before speaking. "I agree wholeheartedly to what Leo and Piper said. To add to that, I want to say that even though the Roman and Greek demigods have had been kept apart for years to avoid further bloodshed, I think that these past few months have proven that the Romans and Greeks can love one another and live in peace together."

The last part of Jason's speech was drowned out by cheers and whistles. He and Piper blushed, Jason much more than she.

He quickly stuttered an end to the speech before passing the microphone to Annabeth.

"Thank you Jason, and thank you everyone. I want to say that while we are the ones going on the Great Prophecy quest, it does not mean that what you do here is any less valuable. You have an important role in protecting Camp Half-Blood, our home, the first place many of us have felt a sense of belonging. Everything we have been doing these past months to prepare for the upcoming war with Gaea."

Adrien nodded. He felt ready. They had been training for this. They were born to do this.

"As head counsellors of the Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Zeus and Athena cabins, it has been our duty to ensure the safety of the camp and all of its inhabitants. But now, the time has come for us leaders to pass on the torch to you. You are the real heroes of Camp Half-Blood. We have complete faith in your abilities and trust that everything here will be safe and under control."

Not even a second later, there was a loud bang and then the Argo II, floating in the sky, began to smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello,  
> Thank you very much for the reviews and kudos! It's nice to know that people are thinking about something I wrote.  
> Hmm.... The scenes jump quite a bit in this chapter, but I hope that there's enough connecting themes and threads there to keep the story cohesive. I'd like to know what you think.  
> Also, I'd like to take some time to thank my cousins for helping me move furniture in and out of my room. Without them I would not have thought of, "Don't insult us, we're men." They are the real MVPs.  
> And for those interested, the rooftop parkour challenge was partially inspired by ultimate ninja warriors, obstacle courses, and a rumour I overheard at university.


	8. Marinette and the Half-Blood Prince

Dear Diary,

Annabeth, Piper, Leo and Jason have only left Camp Half-Blood this morning but the camp feels very different.

By the way, don't ask me why the Argo II malfunctioned during the solstice. Nyssa tried to explain the reason to me but I had no idea what she was saying. All of the technical jargon went over my head.

The Hephaestus campers were scrambling like myrmekes trying to fix the ship over the past couple of days and now that the Argo II has sailed they're scrambling to upgrading the Camp's weapon and defence systems with the ship's new technology in time for the Feast of Spes.

Everyone else has been busy with other preparations and has had to step up with responsibility now that 4 of our head counsellors have gone on this great quest (5 if you include Percy). In addition to doing the regular head counsellor duties like doing cabin inspections, making sure that everyone is where they're supposed to be which they usually aren't, and picking up the tasks that others said that they'll do but haven't, I've been busy training the newer campers, running baking classes and attending all the war meetings in the Big House.

On top of all of that, I have to deal with Chloe who has volunteered to be the Aphrodite Cabin's temporary Head Counsellor. I told Chiron that I think that she's not cut out to be in charge because responsibility and listening to others aren't particularly strong traits of hers. And now that Piper is gone, there isn't anyone who can stop her from using her Charmspeak. But despite all of this, he told me to give Chloe a chance to prove herself and that she'll grow into her role.

"Besides," he said, "it's not as if anyone else has put their hand up for the role from the Aphrodite Cabin."

That's fine, but at the very least can she do less complaining and more work?

With the impending war against Mother Earth incarnate, it's not a very good time for inexperienced people to be in charge. There is so much work to be done.

To be honest, I don't think that I'm experienced enough for this role either. The majority of the other Head Counsellors have gone on quests to get their roles. Most of the other campers have also gone on a quest because they want to be a Head Counsellor in the future. A lot of other campers have been receiving prophecies from the Oracle to go on quests recently. I haven't even been on a single quest yet. What have I done to even remotely deserve this role? Win a capture the flag game? That was mostly luck and it was just a game. And what happens when my luck runs out?

Snap out of it Marinette! There's still work to do and you said that you'll do it! You can do it!

* * *

During their rope climbing session Chloe came storming in from the direction of the Big House. It was a surprise to Adrien that she had taken the up role of temporary Head Counsellor of the Aphrodite Cabin and was even more surprised that she took it very seriously. While maybe not the most loved Head Counsellor, Chloe had certainly proven herself a force to be reckoned with.

"Marinette! The Council is waiting for you in the rec room!"

The other girl's eyes grew large and covered her mouth. "Oh, no! I completely forgot about today's meeting! But- uh-,"

Adrien put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched slightly, but quickly relaxed. "Don't worry, Marinette," he said, "I can take over this class."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now go." He and Marinette had continued to run various training sessions after the parkour run. They made a pretty effective team. She was the one who usually came up with the ideas, but he was sure that he could run the session on his own without any major catastrophes.

"Thank you." She smiled and waved cheerfully, but this close, he could see faint shadows under her eyes.

He was worried about that so he went to ask Alya during free time if she knew if her best friend was all right.

"Hmm?" Alya was in the middle of writing something - an interview with Grover Underwood regarding the awakening of Gaea judging from the title written in Ancient Greek - and looked at him. "What makes you say that?"

He quickly thought about it. "I don't know… She seems a little tense ever since Argo II left, probably because she's been so busy and I haven't seen her since she was called to the Big House for a Council meeting."

Alya continued to stare at him. It was difficult to read her expression but it felt as if she was analysing every word he said. Adrien supposed it was because she was practising her journalism skills.

"If you're so worried about Marinette," she said, drawing out the words, "why don't you ask her yourself?"

He would've, but she was always so busy. Even if they ran some training sessions together and he attended her baking classes, there wasn't any opportunity to have a conversation with her. As soon as she finished one activity, she was off running off to the next thing or meeting. He had no idea how she kept up with everything with only a few slip ups without someone like Nathalie to schedule all her appointments.

But as luck would have it, around the same time that a cyclops, hellhound and harpy arrived at Camp Half-Blood, the number of patrols increased and Adrien was partnered up with Marinette for a few of them. He would be able to check up on her then.

* * *

Dear Diary,

It's already past midnight, but I want to write about the Pegasus ride I went on with Adrien this evening. We only flew along the camp perimeters but the moonlight turned the camp grounds into a whole new world. It was an indescribable feeling flying through the endless diamond sky on a chestnut Pegasus and Adrien on a white one. Okay, it was only for night patrol, but sometimes it's nice to imagine that situation was more romantic than what they actually were.

I was obviously very nervous about going on a night patrol with only Adrien. My heart was beating rapidly pretty much the whole time. I was trying my not to look at him, but I couldn't help it. At one point while we were flying above the forest, he suddenly sat up straight and caught me looking at him. He then said that hat he had this feeling of déjà vu.

"By the way, Marinette," he then said, "I've been meaning to ask the past few days if you were all right."

"Of course I am." I probably stuttered that out. Before this we were flying in silence. "Why do you ask?"

"I just thought that you looked a little distressed and not as cheerful recently. You've been running around doing a lot of things around camp." He put his hands up. "Oh, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I just -"

"No, no." Adrien isn't the type of person who would try to make someone feel uncomfortable. It's just that I was trying so hard for others not to see that I was feeling stressed recently, that I was disappointed that my mask was not have been as strong as I thought. I knew I wasn't right for the job.

"No, that's wrong," he said.

I'm still blushing remembering the feeling of realising that I said that last bit out loud. Thankfully it was dark at the time. I don't think I've ever been that red before in my life, and then he said this.

"You are right for the job. You're kind, have good intentions and resourceful. Why else would you be trusted and asked to take on so many responsibilities if you weren't? It's a difficult job. Also, without you we wouldn't have tied the Capture the Flag game against the Hunters."

"We tied because of everyone's efforts," I said. "If you hadn't blocked the path of the Hunters with the trees, they would've won. I was just lucky."

"I know that you're the daughter of Lady Luck herself, but you're more than just lucky. I wouldn't have thought of using those trees if you hadn't noticed them. It was thanks to your quick thinking, Marinette, that we tied the game."

"But that was just a game. We're in a war." I felt really guilty for disagreeing with him again, but I honestly didn't feel as if I deserved all of that praise.

"That game was a way to train for war. As my basketball coach once told me, training is meant to be much harder than the real thing, and since we did so well in a training game, then surely that indicates that we'll do well in the war too. We'll prove it. Just trust me, Marinette. Okay?"

"Okay."

"And don't underestimate what breaking the Hunter's winning streak meant. A lot of the campers here have had tough home lives and become so battle hardened that it becomes difficult for them to see the bright side of things. This gave them something to be happy about."

Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe that's why he's been joking around a lot recently…

He also reminded that even though I was often asked to take responsibility, I could always say no or ask for help.

"After all, we were friends, right?"

He's right, but it did hurt to know that he thought of me only as a friend.

Anyways, he was so positively infectious I couldn't help but feel much better. He said that he'll take over running the training sessions so that I had a little bit more time to myself. I didn't really want to because that meant less time to spend time with him, but then again, if I have more free time I can do more patrols with him without any other campers around. Actually, you know what? That's all right.

* * *

Adrien was in a large room filled with racks of clothes, mix-matching furniture and cracked glassware. He was looking for something, but he wasn't quite sure what it looked like and couldn't quite see beyond the mist.

The earth quaked. Books toppled from shelves. Adrien struggled to regain his footing and at the last second rolled to dodge the charging elephant. He threw a javelin at a snake-like creature and blocked an attack to his side with his shield.

He saw Nino manning the catapults. Chloe swung a large bulky sword around at a horned beast. Arrows were flying everywhere. He dodged one and found himself face to face with Marinette. Adrien saw movement behind her but he saw it too late. Marinette collapsed forward. There was an arrow embedded in her back. He caught her. Crimson blood stained is hand. His chest hurt. The pain faded everything to darkness.

Someone was calling his name. There was a shadowed figure in front of him.

"Are you all right, bro?"

Adrien blinked and remembered. "Marinette– ?!"

"Woah, lie back down, Adrien. What about her?"

"Nino?" Adrien sighed with relief. He lay back in his bunk in the Apollo Cabin and rested his arm over his eyes. He felt his heart rate go back to normal. "Don't worry, it was only a dream. Thank the gods."

"But bro," said Nino, "you're a son of the god of prophecies. There's a chance that your dream will come true."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the late update. Thank you very much for showing your support by continuing to read this and kudosing my work. It's been really crazy recently so I haven't been able to write. I wish I did have more time. Writing is pretty therapeutic. 
> 
> Other notes... the thing that Adrien said his basketball coach told him is something paraphrased from something that my dad used to tell me when he coached me. 
> 
> Do you ever get that feeling of not knowing if something is canon or fanon? I actually had to look up if patrols were canon. According to the creator, it is.


	9. Monsieur Butterfly

"What do you mean there's a chance that my dream will come true?" Adrien asked Nino. "Does that mean that Marinette will-"

"Woah, stop!" interrupted Will Solace, scrambling out of his bunk. "If your dream didn't have anything good it in, don't tell anyone anything about it. Demigod dreams have a higher chance of turning into prophecies if they are told to someone else, especially if the demigod is a child of Apollo, god of prophecies."

"But, if he tells us what it is, we can help him prevent it," said Nino.

"Don't you remember the story about Oedipus?" retorted Will.

Adrien and the others shook their heads.

Their head counsellor muttered something about how Annabeth didn't teach the new campers their history properly, sighed, and then began the story.

"Long ago, Oedipus was born to Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes. However, Laius heard a prophecy from an Oracle of our father at Delphi that he would be killed by his son, so he left Oedipus, who was just a baby, to die on a mountainside. But instead of dying, Oedipus was found by shepherds and was then raised by King Polybus and Queen Merope as their own. He later then learned about the prophecy from the oracle at Delphi which said that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Unaware of his true parentage, he believed he was fated to murder Polybus and marry Merope, and so left for Thebes. On his way there he met, quarrelled and then killed with an older man which later turned out to be his father, Laius, but Oedipus didn't know that. Then Oedipus continued on his journey, defeated the sphinx by answering its riddle and won the right to marry the queen who was actually his birth mother, Queen Jocasta."

"Dude, that's gross," said Nino.

"And years later, after having four kids with her son, the queen found out and she killed herself. Oedipus blinded himself with the pin from a brooch he took off Queen Jocasta's gown and was then exiled. But the point of the story is," he said loudly to be heard over everyone's exclamations of disgust and horror, "that even if you try to prevent a prophecy like King Laius did, you might end up causing it to happen anyways."

"W-what do I do?" asked Adrien.

Will placed a firm hand on Adrien's shoulder. "Look at the bright side. The future is uncertain, so it certainly can turn out all right. And everyone go to sleep. It's late and the sun won't rise up for another two hours, forty-three minutes and seven seconds."

Despite the advice, Adrien found it difficult to not think about Marinette getting shot by an arrow and couldn't sleep at all.

"Dude, control yourself," warned Nino during lunchtime.

"Oh, sorry," said Adrien. The blight on the wooden tables stopped spreading. He hadn't lost control of his powers recently. He gained some level control over his abilities by exercising it to help Will develop a cure for the common cold.

"There must be a way to prove that the dream won't come true," Adrien told himself.

Over the next couple days, Adrien worked hard to make sure the dream wouldn't come true. He prevented Marinette from taking part in archery by inviting her to sword fighting training. He deflected an arrow aimed at her during Capture the Flag games, even though they were on opposite teams. He even tried to make Nino fetch the feathered boas from the Big House's attic for Chiron but he ended up stuck with the job.

Adrien broke out in cold sweat. He had never been up there before, but he was warned that it was filled with clothes, odd furniture and items. Fortunately, the attic looked nothing like the room of his dreams. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief and then promptly coughed up a dust storm, knocking over a stack of boxes filled with items he hoped wasn't valuable.

During one morning's javelin practice, Nino suggested that he go see the Oracle for advice.

"She sees bad stuff all the time," he reasoned. "She'll know how to deal with it."

But Adrien didn't want to risk confirming his prophecy. Unfortunately for him, at that moment Ella the harpy landed on his head, and was shortly followed by Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Tyson and Chiron. They didn't sit on his head though, they just waited at the edge of the training arena.

"We need to talk to Adrien Agreste," said Chiron.

Adrien glanced at Nino who shrugged and took the javelin out of his hands.

Ella, who was lighter than Adrien would've guessed, was chattering away about being blinded by the sun and having misfortune.

"We were exchanging prophecies," said Rachel Elizabeth Dare when he approached them, "and there's something that she said that we thought might refer to you."

"Go on tell him, Ella," said Tyson.

The harpy ruffled her feathers and then recited a prophecy.

"At a place for steals in the Empire's city,

Bring a lucky charm and find bells for a kitty,

Fear the guardian angel with wings of a butterfly,

Break the lover's glass that keeps the beholder's eye,

Do this before it's too late in the afternoon,

Plague's son blinded by Mist and fortune."

"Very good, Ella," said Rachel Elizabeth Dare, scratching the harpy under the chin.

"What does it mean?" said Adrien.

"That is for you to figure out," said Chiron putting a firm hand on Adrien's shoulder. "Congratulations, Adrien, you have been chosen for this quest."

* * *

Dear Diary,

I finally have a quest and it's with Adrien! What a dream come true! I don't really have much time to write. I'm supposed to be changing into clean, un-scorched clothes, but I'll just write the prophecy down really quickly.

According to Alya, the prophecy said:

"At a place for steel in the Empire's City,

Bring lucky charms and find bells for a kitty,

Fear the guardian angel with wings of a butterfly,

Break the lovers' glass that keeps the beholder's eye,

Do this before it's too late in the afternoon,

Plague's son blinded by misfortune."

Apparently the words "lucky" and "misfortune" referred to me. Misfortune indeed, because Chloe was within earshot and insisted that "charms" and "lovers" referred to her because she can charmspeak and is the daughter of the goddess of love.

Why her? Why couldn't some other child of Aphrodite come along instead?

In any case, Rachel Elizabeth Dare is fairly sure that we're supposed to go to New York City since it's also known as the "Empire's City". We'll probably get a cab there, but where can you find both cat bells and glass? And what is this angel that we should fear? Is this a weeping angel's reference? Now that I think about them, they sure remind me of those celestial bronze statues in Paris. And – ah sorry gotta go!

We should be done by this afternoon. If I don't return, it's Chloe's fault.

* * *

Marinette was the last person that Adrien wanted on his quest. She could be shot! But unfortunately, Alya overheard Ella recite the prophecy and now there were in New York City. They had been wandering the avenues of Manhattan surrounded by structures made out of steel for hours. The quest said that they were supposed to find cat bells and break the lover's glass by the afternoon, but all Chloe wanted to do was shop.

"We're not here to shop, Chloe," Adrien said after she practically dragged them into the Chloe store in the Upper East Side.

"But this Chloe bag is only five hundred dollars. It's practically a steal!"

"That's it!" exclaimed Marinette.

They looked at her.

"Watch your manners. We're in a store," said Chloe, "Although, I guess that I shouldn't be expecting much from a peasant."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "The prophecy is cryptic. "A place for steel." It isn't "steel" as in metal. It's "steal" as in bargains! So we should be looking in places that have bargains!"

"See. Even she thinks we should be here."

"Do you see any cat bells?" said Marinette. "I think that we should be looking in pet stores, or department stores or even thrift stores!"

Adrien's mind wandered back to his dream. The place he saw did look like a store now that he thought about it. But if that part of his dream was fulfilled did that mean that everything he saw would come to pass. There wasn't any choice. They had to find complete the quest before it was too late in the afternoon. Hopefully, one aspect of a prophecy coming true didn't mean that everything else would.

"A thrift shop is a great idea," Adrien said decidedly. "But where do we find one?"

"Let's ask," she said, ignoring Chloe's protestations.

At the first store they went into, people were sifting through large containers filled with clothes. The second one had lots of clothing racks and accessories. He found a leather jacket, gloves and some oversized sunglasses which he put on.

"You don't know where that's been!" Chloe exclaimed while Marinette quietly laughed.

However, that store didn't have any cat bells or glassware.

It wasn't until the third store that Adrien was hit with a feeling of déjà vu. It was exactly like his dream. A few seconds later Marinette found a large box of cat collars with bells on it.

"How did the rest of the prophecy go again?" she asked.

"At a place for steel in the Empire's city,

Bring lucky charms and find bells for a kitty," recited Adrien.

"Done."

"Fear the guardian angel with wings of a butterfly,

Break the lovers' glass that keeps the beholder's eye,

Before it's too late in the afternoon,

Plague's son blinded by misfortune."

"Lovers' glass? I guess we check the glassware section?" suggested Marinette.

The glassware was the same as in his dream. Adrien watched the selves for the slightest tremor.

"Ugh, I did not sign up for this thrifting," complained Chloe. "Are we done? Can we go?"

"We can go we finish the prophecy," said Marinette. She picked up a glass cup, looked at it, and then put it back down on the shelf.

"Ugh! My eyeliner is smudging! I'm going to fix it."

Adrien tried to stifle his laughter at Marinette exaggerated looks of exasperation.

"She's not that bad you know," he told her, "I've known her since we were children and she's earnest. You have to admit that she's doing well with the Aphrodite Cabin."

"Yeah, I know. But it's been a long day and I have to keep myself entertained somehow."

They continued to look through the glassware section for something that could be considered to be the lover's glass.

"What do you think the prophecy meant about a guardian angel with wings of a butterfly?" Adrien asked Marinette.

Suddenly, Chloe's voice rang throughout the store. "Hey! Give back that mirror! I was about to use it!"

They turned to see who Chloe was yelling and found something Adrien didn't expect to see, Gabriel.

* * *

Dear Diary,

We're back and we've successfully completing our quest! Thank Olympus!

The quest took us to the city. We walked the avenues aimlessly to find some cat bells. Once we tried looking in thrift stores because the prophecy could've meant "a place for steals" instead of "a place of steel" things moved much faster. The third store we went to had exactly what we were looking for. There was a box of cat bells by the entrance and a large glassware section by the back. Adrien and I were looking for the lovers' glass but then Chloe started screeching like a banshee. I thought she broke a nail or something. She was making the commotion because someone had snatched a mirror from her hand and that someone handed it to Gabriel.

In any other occasion I would be thrilled to meet my idol but Adrien did not look pleased.

I don't know what the story is between them. I thought that Gabriel was his mother's employer, but clearly something was amiss. There was no way I was going to let him get away with the mirror.

Chiron informed us later that the mirror is used to belong to Aphrodite, and hence was also known as the Lover's Glass.

Lovers'/lover's. English is so difficult.

Apparently whoever looks at their reflection the Lover's glass will become transfixed by it.

I lunged at Gabriel and tried snatch the mirror, but his minion got in the way.

"You two take the minion," Adrien said, "and I'll take him."

Chloe and I were busy fighting, but whatever happened during the faceoff between Adrien and Gabriel did not go our plan. While I was fighting the minion, I narrowly dodged being sliced by Adrien's blade.

"Adrien, snap out of it!" I yelled.

He didn't recognise me. Chloe's charmspeak didn't seem to work on him or Gabriel either. Luckily it did work on the minion. Her command stopped him in his tracks. I flung the minion at Adrien and then ran towards Gabriel. But then, the space began to warp.

"Don't fall for the illusions! It's just Mist!" Chloe shouted. Her annoying voice actually helped me focus and get a grip on reality.

Good thing too because Adrien nearly scratched my face.

I rummaged through a bucket of things and found a blue scarf which I used to blindfold him. I figured that if he couldn't' see, the Mist control wouldn't work.

Peals of bells rang around the shop followed by a loud crash and the tinkling of broken glass. Chloe had tipped the box of cat bells over, the minion slid on the bells and then smashed into a case of glassware.

The sounds broke the Gabriel's hold had on Adrien.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was just standing there. I think that he had to concentrate to keep control of Adrien and his minion. Once he realized that his hold on them had lifted, he started running, stumbling over the bells.

"He still has the mirror! Get it!" shouted Chloe.

Adrien has good hearing so he was able to find Gabriel even with his eyes closed. The mirror dropped to the floor in the struggle. He kicked to me across the floor and I smashed it with my heel of my shoes.

Apparently you get seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror, but I'm a daughter of the goddess of luck, so it should be okay, right?

The lights suddenly went out, and when they were back on, Gabriel and his minion had escaped. I hope that I never see his face again.

With the quest completed we headed back to camp by cab. I'm glad that I didn't have to pry my diary box off one of Chloe and Drew's minions like the time I came back from doing night patrol.

Okay, I guess I have to agree with Adrien about Chloe not being that bad. It was thanks to her that I was able to think of going to a thrift store and we were able to complete the quest. This doesn't mean I'm going to be best friends with her though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about the hiatus. Life had gotten extremely chaotic, but I am determined to finish this story. Even though I have a rough draft of the whole story before I even begin posting a chapter of a story, when I flesh it out, things can take a new form. For example, this chapter is much more angsty than the original draft.
> 
> Please feel free to leave a comment or question.


	10. The Nightmare Before the Feast of Spes

Dear Diary,

We are trapped. Sure, we're protected by the triremes on our Long Island Sound front, the Hecate cabin's magical barriers, and the Ares cabin's mines that the Hermes demigods repurposed on the hill, but how useful will that be against the Romans and all their allies?

They've cut us off in all directions. Last night's patrol team spotted large groups of two headed men and dog-headed monsters equipped with pole axes amongst their ranks. The Romans also control the airspace with giant eagles which already killed off a couple of our pegasi. Peleus might be able to get rid of them, but it will be a major blow to our defences if lose our dragon.

Back within Camp Half-Blood borders, it's not that much safer. The nature spirits become disorientated every time Gaea stirs in her slumber, and in their confusion they attack the campers. The Demeter cabin has been busy trying to help calm them down with limited results.

Clarisse wanted us to attack the Romans before they attack us, but Jake Mason pointed out that the Roman camp are better defended than our home even with Tyson's cyclops friends as reinforcement.

The Romans have six onagers! Six!

According to the Oracle and Annabeth, the only way we will be able to kill the giants and defeat Gaea is if the gods are unified and the Greeks and Romans are united which can only happen if the Athena Parthenos is returned by the Roman Praetor.

At the meeting, Clarisse accused them of lying, and lashed out at the Oracle and Ella, the harpy, for not giving us any warning of the Roman forces, even though Will told her that the prophecies aren't working.

Privately, I have my doubts that the statue will solve everything. What if the giant statue ends up being an automation that goes berserk and attacks us, or it's another Trojan Horse? I didn't want to say that out loud though.

Even though these meetings are closed to cabin leaders only, I think that the friction among the camp leaders is affecting the campers' morale. And morale is difficult enough when the lack of communication from the gods makes it feels as if have we been abandoned by them.

Why must we fight their wars anyways? Why can't they put themselves in danger instead of us? Just because they're a god does not mean they can treat us this way. It's ridiculous. Because of them, many of us demigods are fated to end in tragedy before we even come of age!

Sure, many aspects of modern civilisation are thanks to the gods, and our powers help us protect our family and friends from monsters, but to fight other demigods, people like us? I don't understand why we have to fight other demigods, whether it is the Romans or even Gabriel. Can't we all just get along?

But what else can we do? Just because we don't want to fight, doesn't mean others won't. If they attack us, then we will have to fight to protect our camp and to defend ourselves our loved ones.

Sometimes I wonder if we weren't born as demi-gods, could we have led normal lives?

The Romans plan to invade on the Feast of Spes, August the first, which is fast approaching.

It's hard to keep track of everything going on. I've hardly had time to think about my parents, or figure out why it would be so bad if Gabriel got that mirror, or sleep with all the training and planning going on.

On top of that, Alya keeps telling me that I should confess my feelings to Adrien – but what's the point if there's a very real chance that this could be our last days? All I am now is stressed. I feel as if I have nothing left to give him even if we were in a relationship.

No! I shouldn't think like that.

Maybe when this is all over I'll tell him how I feel.

* * *

During free time, Adrien found Nino sitting on the steps of the amphitheatre and so engrossed with writing that he didn't notice when his name called out.

"Roses are red, violets are blue… Your eyes… ugh!" Nino scratched his head.

"There is no one more beautiful than you?" suggested Adrien.

"Woah! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I called your name a couple of times already."

"Ah." Nino rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.

"What are you doing?"

"Writing a love letter, but I don't think I have our dad's talent for poetry."

"Talent is one thing, skill is another." Adrien put his shield and spear down on the ground and sat down next to Nino. He could use a distraction from worrying about what Gabriel said about his mother, and the dream about Marinette. "So who's the lucky lady?"

"Marinette."

"Marinette?!"

"Yeah, Marinette. She's so awesome."

Adrien silently agreed to that. He never really thought about shipping Nino and Marinette together before, but now that he thought about it, couldn't think of anyone better for each other than two of his closest friends. With everything that's happening, there needs to be more love in the world. But Nino's heart will break if Marinette, no- that won't happen. Adrien wouldn't think about it. His dream will not come true. All the dreams and prophecies were messed up now anyways.

Nino suddenly grabbed Adrien's shirt. "You have to help me ask her out. You know I'm not good with the ladies, especially this one all of a sudden. Do I go up to her and crack a joke? Shoot her a compliment? Invite her for a nice stroll in the forest? Play it serious?"

"You're way over-thinking this." Adrien pried his friend off. "In the forest are you serious? The nature spirits are all confused now."

"Well, nature also has the power to renew and refresh and I heard about there being some cool geysers there."

Adrien patted Nino's shoulder. "Listen," he said, "just be yourself, man."

"It should be easy for you to say, Mr. Superhero."

"I'm not that cool."

"You are, otherwise you wouldn't be my best bud."

Adrien returned the smile. "She'll say yes, I promise."

Nino still wasn't convinced. "What if I act like a moron, or she kisses me or thinks I'm lame?"

"Okay, I got your back. Here is what you do."

The plan was simple. All Nino had to do was accidentally bump into Marinette, apologise and then offer to make it up to her by showing her the cool geysers. But instead, after bumping into her, Nino just stood there.

Adrien decided to help out. "Sorry about that, how could we make it up to you? Any ideas, Nino?"

There was an awkward silence.

"FYI," Adrien whispered to Nino. "Marinette is not going to fall in love with a statue."

"How about we all go for stroll in the forest to see the cool geysers?" said Nino stiffly. "It'll be very refreshing."

"Awesome idea, right, Marinette?" said Alya. "You could use a refreshing stroll."

"Yeah I'm really refreshing, I need refreshments, I mean-"

While Marinette stumbled over her words, Nino remained tongue-tied.

"Cool, say meet at Zeus' Fist at four o'clock?" suggested Adrien. "Nino, sound good? 4 o'clock?"

"Yeah, 4 o'clock."

Adrien waved goodbye to the girls, prodded his friend on the back and guided him to the water station.

"That wasn't so bad," Adrien offered.

"That was horrible!" Nino complained, voice slightly drowned out by the water.

"You're being ridiculous, you did great. And when you're alone with Marinette at the forest later on-"

"Woah? What do you mean alone with Marinette?" He looked at Adrien with a bewildered expression. "Oh no, dude. You're coming with me. You can't leave me alone by myself!"

He sighed. "No problem Nino. What are friends for?"

And that was how he found himself in the forest writing prompts on a chalkboard for Nino on his date with Marinette.

"Hi, Nino," said Marinette when she arrived, "Where's Adrien?"

Adrien wrote a response on a chalkboard.

"We're better off without Advil."

"What?"

This was turning out to be a lot more difficult than he thought. There was no way that Nino could read what he was writing. Adrien could hardly read what he wrote even with using the Greek alphabet. His writing was that bad.

"Without Adrien, I mean," managed Nino. "We don't need him to hang out at the forest."

"Of course we do, you- I mean wasn't he meant to come? Do you want to wait for him?"

"I want to be alone with you," Adrien wrote.

Nino shook his head. "Not yet."

"What was that?"

Adrien ducked out of sight.

"You're right. We'll wait."

He risked a peek. Marinette wasn't looking his way. Adrien made a cross with his arms. "No. I'm not coming!" he wrote.

"He's not coming, is he?" Marinette said, a few minutes later.

"NO!" Adrien wrote.

"Yes, he is coming," Nino said. "But first-"

Adrien tried once more to help his friend. "I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that I love you, Marinette."

"I wanted to tell you," said Nino, "that I love a girl but I don't know how to tell her."

Adrien threw his arms up in the air! There wasn't any point in writing down prompts if they weren't going to be followed!

"You do? Well I could help you with that!" exclaimed Marinette.

"You could?" said Nino.

"I can't wait to hear about this lucky girl."

"It's... your best friend, Alya!"

Adrien accidentally exclaimed out loud, but Marinette didn't notice. She was too excited.

"Alya!? That's awesome! I can fix up a date for you guys."

Nino turned around at something Adrien couldn't see. "Is there something there?"

"Nothing! You know, it would be so sad if you didn't tell her tell her – woah do you hear that?"

* * *

Dear Diary,

I really need to stop taunting the universe. Less than 24 hours after I write, "I hope that nothing bad happens" there was a pegasi stampede that tore through our camp! The last thing we needed was all this chaos to happen the day before Feast's Day. I have no idea how that happened, but at least it's preventing war from starting on our end since we're too busy fixing things. It does lower our defence though... some traps got triggered in the forest. From what I heard, Percy's giant hellhound got spooked, broke one of the stable doors, then the pegasi started stampeding. It was so difficult to get them under control. Adrien tried to speak pegasi while Nino and Alya were trying to dodge the pega- oh gods! Alya! She's going to be so mad at me!

* * *

Adrien freed his friends from the trap. "How did you even get locked in here?"

"Marinette," said Alya. "I love that girl, but sometimes she's so scatterbrained."

"What did she do?"

"During the pegasi stampede, she tripped the trap and got us stuck. Luckily it's not finished so it's not lethal, but this place is so far away from everything. We weren't sure if anyone was going to go this way until tonight's patrols. What happened?"

"Well, Lou Ellen spooked Mrs. O'Leary got spooked with some magic, and then she broke through the stable causing the stamped. Long story, short, they're back in the stables and everyone's nearly finished cleaning up."

"Man, as if things couldn't have gone worse." said Nino. "The Feast of Spes is in a couple of days."

Adrien was just glad that there wasn't an elephant.

"Speaking of feasts, I'm starving," said Alya. "Is there any more food left?"

"There should be. They were just starting dinner when I left. I didn't see you guys there, so I went looking for you."

"ALYA!" It was Marinette. She struggled to catch her breath. "Listen, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have told Nino I would set up a date for you. I just wasn't thinking and then there was the stamped, and Mrs O'Leary wouldn't calm down until we fed her som Kibbles 'n' bits. And then I had to help lasso the pegasi. But really, the Demeter kids and nymphs did most of the work with their vines. Luckily, they weren't confused by Gaea otherwise it would've been really bad. Do you forgive me? Oh, er what are they doing here?"

"Someone locked us up in a trap all afternoon," said Alya, "Fortunately, Adrien came to release us."

"It wasn't so bad," said Nino. "Turns out we have lots in common. You know Marinette, the girl I got a crush on…"

Adrien raised his thumbs up. Nino was doing great.

"Oh yeah...?" said Marinette.

"Actually it was you."

"Huh?" She looked really surprised. Adrien hoped that Nino would be okay. Her response didn't sound promising.

"Or that's what I thought," he said, surprisingly cheerfully, "but after being with Alya that whole time."

"Yeah well, we don't have to give her all the details. Do we?" She bumped him on the shoulders. "The funniest part of it was that Nino was totally being coached by coached by Adrien."

Adrien felt the heat rise to his face and avoided looking at everyone.

"By the way, if you need any guy advice or help, I could totally make it happen," said Nino. "That is, if I know the dude."

The colour drained from her face.

"He doesn't know you like. Pinky swear." Alya thenshot Nino a pointed look. "Because I don't make decisions for other people."

He put his hands up in defence. "Fine. Forget I said anything. But if I can help."

"Nino!"

He massaged his arm where Alya hit him. Despite all the bickering, Alya and Nino did seem to have a good thing going. Adrien chanced a glance at Marinette. She smiled at him from the corner of her eye, and rolled her eyes at their friends. As they walked back to mess hall, Adrien couldn't help but wonder who it was that she liked. She never mentioned it to him. He thought that they were friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back to my previous chapters and was horrified to find out that it was almost a year between chapter 8 and 9 were released. On the bright side, the interval between the two previous chapters has decreased! I'll try to release the final two chapters before the end of the year.
> 
> If you have any questions or have any comments about the story, please leave a review or message me. :)


	11. Feast's Day

Dear Diary,

Tonight is the last night before the Feast of Spes. There isn't much else we can do at this point, but it doesn't feel like we're ready at all. There are still people setting up our defences, and upgrading everyone's armour. At the camp meeting earlier, Chiron was running through the plan but everyone kept getting distracted by the squirrel climbing up the column. It was so cute and had the bushiest tail ever.

What was I talking about? Oh, the plan.

What if our plan fails? And if we fail, then what?

We're not just fighting for Camp Half-Blood and demigods. We're fighting Gaea for every living creature that walks the earth. If we do not defeat her, everyone's lives will be at stake. It's literally the end of the world if we do not win.

Time is running out. We still haven't solved the onager problem. Each of them has the potential to wipe us out, and they have six.

If Nico and the Roman Praetor don't bring the Athena Parthenos back in time by the time Gaea awakens, the gods won't be on our side and we won't stand a chance of surviving this.

No, that's not fair on them. Even if do bring do bring the statue in time, there's no guarantee it will turn the odds in our favour. I'm sure that they're doing everything they can to bring the Athena Parthenos here and that Percy and the others are too on their quest.

I wish I could do something more to help them, but they're across the globe. Besides, we all have our part to play in the fight against Gaea and the Romans.

I may only be a sort-of demigod of a minor goddess, definitely not someone important enough to be the topic of Great Prophecies, but even I've been trained at Camp Half-Blood to fight monsters for those who can't. There has to be a reason that it was my parents, ordinary citizens of Paris, were blessed by Tyche, and that I am here now in a position to fight and defend.

In their last letter, Papa said that they recently had a really big order of macaroons and Mama asked when I was going back home. I told them soon, but can I even keep that promise? It's difficult to plan for the future when a war is your present.

Thinking back on my life, I've been really lucky. I've met wonderful people, have had experiences that people can only dream of, and have been raised and loved by my wonderful parents.

Sure, I'd love to see my parents again and realize my dreams of attending a design school, becoming a head lining designer commissioned by royalty and having a cat. Also, I'd love to tell Adrien how I feel about him, but I've never been able to talk about my feelings as easily Piper does with Jason.

Maybe it's too late to confess now. What am I supposed to do? Go up to him just before we go into battle and tell him I love him? And then what? Whenever I try to do something romantic, it never goes as planned.

But maybe if we win this war my dreams will come true.

Good night for now, dear Diary. Wish us luck. We'll need it.

* * *

Adrien, once again, didn't get a good night sleep.

He should've been able to sleep like a log after helping out with all the preparations yesterday, but every time he drifted off to sleep his dreams would be of his encounter with Gabriel in the thrift store. He knows something about what happened to his mother.

"Don't you want to see your mother again?" Gabriel had said.

An image of his mother filled Adrien's head. She was asleep, but breathing.

"If you give me the mirror, I'll forgive you for what you did to me."

He couldn't figure out what Gabriel wanted with Aphrodite's mirror. Alya theorised that it was to capture people's soul.

That didn't really matter anyways. His mother was alive.

Adrien didn't know the first place to he didn't know where to look for her. He wouldn't be allowed out of the camp before the end of summer without a prophecy and the prophecies weren't working properly yet.

He didn't really want the prophecies to start working again though.

The bit about the clothes, mix-matching furniture and cracked glassware in a large room ended up being true, but the pegasi stampede didn't have an elephant in it so maybe the dream had diverged. He contemplated warning Marinette about the arrow, but he didn't' want to tempt fate. Besides, she was stressed enough already. She thought that the Feast of Spes was today instead of tomorrow.

It wasn't her fault though. Everyone has their off days. Once she realised her mistake, she bounced back quickly like she normally does. She was amazing. Whoever she liked would be very lucky.

Nino claims that he doesn't know who it is, but Adrien thought that it could be Leo. She was friends with him, and she stressed out when he left on his quest. He did know that she was asked to do some embroidery on his shroud, just in case. But she also did some for Jason, piper and Annabeth.

She also did talk about the demigod Percy a lot. Adrien never met him, but he knows that Percy is Annabeth's boyfriend. It could be a case of unrequited love.

Then again, it could be someone else. She was quite popular and friendly with everyone at Camp Half-Blood. Adrien had no clue.

"Why don't you just ask her?" Nino said at the last dinner. "You clearly want to."

"I can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"It would be weird."

"It can't be weirder than you are now staring at her. Just ask her out already."

Adrien looked at his friend in disbelief. "What? That wasn't the question I wanted to ask! Don't be ridiculous. We're just friends."

Nino didn't look as if he believed him. "Yeah sure, bro. As long as you're happy."

* * *

 

Dear Diary,

So, it turns out, the feasts day wasn't today, but tomorrow. I was so stressed that I completely missed a day and freaked out a lot of people too in the process. I was beating the drums to wake everyone up and yelling at everyone to get into their armour.

Thank goodness that Alya set me straight before I woke up Clarisse. Ares kids take a while to wake up. If she did wake up, I wouldn't be writing now. What would I do without her?

I guess this is an example of something Chiron once said. "If someone convinces themselves that a situation really has a certain meaning, regardless of whether it actually does, they will take very real actions in response."

In this case, I thought that this day was Feast's Day.

I was told to take it easy, but I couldn't sit around and do nothing.

After dinner I was chatting with Alya, Nino and Adrien, when my best friend and her boyfriend went to spend some time together leaving me alone with Adrien.

At first we were talking about about how Alya and Nino made a cute couple and then somehow we got talking about the arrow, the lyre and the honey pot incident. It was nice just chatting about random stuff, and then I had to ruin the mood by asking him about his nightmares.

He seemed surprised, but I thought it was fairly obvious from the shadows under his eyes. Most of the demigods have been having them and we're going through a fairly traumatic time.

I babbled and awkwardly tried to backpedal from a topic he didn't want to talk about, but he smiled and tried to assure me it was okay.

He really is patient and kind.

I wanted to do something for him, so I gave him my lucky charm. Hopefully that will help with his dreams. He seemed to cheer up a bit.

At that moment, I nearly mustered enough courage to tell him how I felt, but then Chloe barged in and dragged him away.

It was nice while that moment lasted.

Right now, I feel as if I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The rest of my cabin is asleep. I really have to get some rest too. We have an early and long day tomorrow.

What is all that commotion going on outside?

My gods, Alya just came in saying that Mellie's water just broke. Just our luck…. Why does it have to be NOW? How can an air spirit even have their water broken!? Where's Will?!

* * *

The sun had not yet risen, but Adrien and Camp Half-Blood were awake and ready to defend their home. Right now they were waiting on Will and his team to disable the Roman's onagers. It was risky. Only a short moment ago, Will came running up the hill announcing that Millie gave birth to a healthy satyr and that the Athena Parthenos would be arriving soon. Clarisse and Chiron tried to keep everyone quiet, but even they could hardly contain their excitement. It was the first bright news that they had in a long time. Coach Hedge even managed to make it in time for the delivery.

"That's all well and good," grumbled Clarisse, after hearing Will's news. "But we still need a way to remove the onagers."

"I volunteer as tribute!"

"You just delivered a baby."

"And that is why I want to go," Will answered. "Besides, where's there's a will there's a way!"

And so they waited. Adrien hated waiting.

The sky slowly lightened in the east. The light illuminated the hordes of monsters. There was still no sign of the statue or of Will's team yet. They were running out of time. The first light peaked above the horizon, bouncing off the Celestial bronze helmets.

There looked to be some movement in the Roman camp.

"What's going on?" asked Clarisse.

Alya put her binoculars on. "Chaos. There are two-headed men fighting with one of the cohorts. The Romans were naive to think that they could trust those monsters. One of the other Cohorts are trying to help, but another group of monsters are getting restless.

"I see something white at one of the onagers. I think that's Will. Why on Gaea did he bother putting on those black clothes if he didn't cover his white blond hair? It looks as if he's arguing with someone – is that Nico? And – oh – stop fighting! Otherwise the monsters will – well now you're in trouble. Will and the others surrounded by monsters. Skeletons have clawed their way from the ground. It must be Nico."

Word spread quickly about Nico, but they were quickly silenced by a glare from Clarisse.

"There's a Roman in purple robes carrying a golden eagle standard, approaching Will and Nico flanked by dog warriors. The dog warriors are down, clutching their ears. And the Roman is raising the golden eagle standard and no! NO! Everybody, look out!"

Even without the binoculars, Adrien could see all six of the onagers launching however, they all collided to each other in mid-air. The heat from the explosion warmed his face.

It didn't hit them, but Clarisse was not happy.

"The Romans have fired the first shot! Camp Half-Blood! Attack!"

Clarisse La Rue charged ahead on a red chariot pulled by metal horses, closely followed by the Ares Cabin. After a brief moment of confusion, Adrien and all the demigods, satyrs, nature spirits, Cyclopes and Chiron headed towards the Roman troops. They would not let the Romans win.

Clarisse yelled, "Romans, you have fired on our camp! Withdraw or be destroyed!"

The Roman demigod in purple robes and a sickly complexion addressed his forces. "You see? It was a trick! They divided us so they could launch a surprise attack. Legion, cuneum formate! CHARGE!"

A horrible, piercing, off-pitch whistle caused Adrian to flinch and nearly drop his sword at the sound. He searched for Will, the only person capable of that horrid noise.

"DON'T BE STUPID!" He yelled, pointing north. "LOOK!"

Adrien stood with the others, dumbfounded, as a forty-foot-tall gold and ivory statue suspended by cables carried by six pegasi and Roman eagles flew towards them. On one of the Pegasi rode a Roman demigod, her sword held high. Her Imperial Purple cloak shimmered in the morning light.

"GREEK DEMIGODS!" She announced. "Behold your most sacred statue, the Athena Parthenos, wrongly taken by the Romans. I return it to you now as a gesture of peace!"

The statue was placed on the crest of the hill, near Thalia's pine tree and emitted a strong pulse of gold light. It rippled across the ground into the valley of Camp Half-Blood and down the opposite side through the Roman ranks. Adrien felt warm and safe like he was in his mother's embrace. He felt as if the gods were there watching over him.

"Romans!" Reyna yelled. "I do this for the good of the Legion, for the good of Rome. We must stand together with our Greek brethren!"

"Listen to her!" Everyone turned their attention to Nico. He strode between the battle lines and held his black sword in the air. "Reyna risked her life for all of you! We brought this statue halfway across the world, Roman and Greek working together, because we must join forces. Gaea is rising. If we don't work together –"

YOU WILL DIE.

Adrien could see the earth rippling with the sound of Gaea's voice. The feeling of peace and safety from the Athena Parthenos vanished.

A FUTILE GESTURE. BUT, IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, YOU MAY DIE TOGETHER.

The sickly looking Roman stumbled backwards and ran away, disappearing into the sea of monsters.

"CLOSE RANKS!" Reyna yelled.

All Greeks and Romans moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other. Nino was on his left. Marinette was on his right. They were surrounded by monsters on all sides but they were the children of gods and goddesses, and they would fight. They would win.

The earth rumbled and cracked beneath them. Gaea was waking up and it didn't sound as if she was a morning goddess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was partially inspired by the time I thought that my holiday was the next day when it was actually the week after and I managed to freak out my friends about by saying that we probably shouldn't go because the weather was currently insane. Turns out the weather wasn't the one insane.
> 
> Anyways, are you ready for the last chapter?


End file.
